Finding yourself no
matter where you are
by Christine Thomas
A few years ago I was in a training session
learning how to operate a hand held GPS (Global
Positioning System) unit. The instructor told
us that as soon as you turn the unit on it spends
a few seconds connecting with the satellites,
locating true north, and then, bingo, it’s
locked in and you can know exactly where you
are.
Wow, I thought and even said out loud, “That’s
fantastic, to always know within seconds where you
are and the direction of your true north!”
A chuckle or two from some classmates let me know
that someone else was seeing this as a metaphor,
too. How splendid to have a tool to use to find
yourself no matter the situation you’re in,
no matter where you are. I definitely wanted one
of those.
The
desire to have such an inbuilt way of knowing where
I am along my path has never left me. I’ve
made it part of my life’s work to help myself
and others find such easily accessible, unerring
orienting mechanisms. I’ve left myself some
cairns, some markers, on my journey of discovery
that I’d like to share with you.
The starting place, the ground on which you stand
at the beginning of each day, is key. I’ve
learned to start my days greeting the spirits of
the directions. It seems right to me to start the
day with praise and thanks, honoring the spirits
of the four directions and the above, here and below.
This not only opens my heart to spirit all around
me, it locates me as one part of the glorious whole.
The energy of intention feels right, too, when
I begin the day in a sacred manner, with joyous
praise. And, if later on I’m asking for
help, I know I didn’t just start out saying
please, please, please. The beginning point
on the map, on my journey of the day, is a place
of gratitude, awe, praise, love, wonder, and
joy. This is the ground I stand on from the
beginning and is where I wish to return.
Then as I move out about my work for the day
I want my internal reference points tuned to
what has most meaning for me. I trust if I could
only know what Goddess wants of me then I would
surely know my path and my destination. One
form of meditation that I’ve been practicing
is what I call stepping into the arms of Goddess.
I light my candle for the Goddess Brigid, she
of the sacred flame and holy well. As I hold
her image in my mind I gaze into the flame.
I feel the flame of her love in the candle
and burning in me. I envision her ablaze in
golden light, like the candle flame. I see her
opening her arms and I step into them, into
her golden light of love. I feel her loving
embrace. I hold onto this sense of being with
her for as long as I can. Then, from this place
of her embrace, I let what I desire for the
day come into my mind. I set the intention that
I want my desire, my will, to be aligned with
her will. From this place of feeling her loving
embrace I trust my heart to know my next steps.
Even before I might say my prayers for my loved
ones or for the world I want to first be connected
with her. Even if my logical mind is unsure,
I trust my connection with her and I move out
into the day from that place of connection.
I also call on my allies, the ones who will
help me through the day, who will help me to
remember this connection, to give me what I
need to do my work in the world, and to appreciate
this magical journey.
I choose to connect with Brigid because she
is the face of the Divine that is my doorway
to that which is more than words can say. You
can feel the embrace of Goddess by getting to
know her by any of her 10,000 names. When you
find the one who calls to you and get to know
her by being with her, you will have a fiercely
strong inner reference point. And if you just
open your heart you will notice her all around
you, you will see her in the faces of the women
you meet, you will feel her loving presence
as a most trustworthy reference point.
Then, throughout the day I have other guides
or reference points, my own satellite-beacons,
to keep me on track. One of them is the natural
world. Or maybe I should call this the web of
millions of reference points. Tasting the wind,
hearing the birds, smelling the snow, watching
the clouds, feeling the dirt, sensing the tides,
worshipping the moon – all help me to
get out of my head and into my animal self,
the part of me that instinctively knows where
I am, internally and externally.
Even if we have been removed from the natural
world by domestication we still know this –
as evidenced by our fascination with the Weather
Channel. Not just to know if we need our umbrellas
or not, we feel some security in knowing what
is happening in Nature. And when we no longer
trust our senses we turn on the TV. I say we
can quickly re-access our animal wisdom by opening
our senses to the natural world.
Just the other day I was struggling with making
a decision about a project to get involved with
or not. My mind was thinking in dollars and
timelines, risks and responsibilities. I was
feeling unsure and uncomfortable so I stepped
outside for a breather. Within moments I forgot
what had been worrying me – I saw a pair
of kestrels, the small falcons, doing their
courtship thing. I heard a meadowlark singing.
I noticed a bank of tumultuous spring storm
clouds moving in.
In those brief moments outside I remembered
the basics of life and death, of joy and possibilities.
I didn’t have to think at all about the
decision or how to make it. I just allowed myself
to remember the magic all around me. When I
went inside I knew what was most important for
me to consider is this decision.
Being in my head too much is a sure recipe
for disorientation. Not to knock my fantastic
logical mind – it’s great at many
forms of problem solving and daily life. It
does, though, get distracted easily, convincing
me that my body is just a work-horse, just here
to do the heavy lifting. Not so! Getting back
into my body is a sure way to remember where
I am and where I want to be. When I allow my
body to orient me I am almost always rewarded
with a huge “you are here” sign.
When I notice my breathing is shallow or my
shoulders tensed, I can check to see what track
I’m on. When I pay attention to my belly
– not just to stuff it with some junk
food but to find out what it really wants –
I am reminded of what I need for deep nourishment
of body and soul. And when I tune in to how
flexible and fluid I am (or not) I get a sense
of how I am responding to the flow of energy
around me. Am I just caught up in the rapids
or am I steering my own canoe? The wisdom of
our animal bodies is sure and strong. We can
trust it to show us the way.
I get my mind on board with this orientation
process by reminding it to keep me in touch
with my values. In life coaching we talk a lot
about our personal values – those intangible
ideas that inform who we are. Values can be
compared to the key points in the owner’s
manual that I often wished would have come with
me when I was born. (That is until my teens
when I would have chucked it, only to be desperately
wondering in my 30s where on earth I put it.)
I’m not talking about the idealist shopping
list of Girl Scout type values like freedom,
integrity, honesty and the like.
We
all like to think those admirable qualities are
important to us. And they may be, but knowing them
as words from a list is not the same as knowing,
beyond a shadow of a doubt, in your bones, that
you have personal power that feels like “running
with wild horses in the moonlight”, or honesty
that feels like “soul’s truth shining
in your eyes, baring all”.
It takes some reflection and attention to be crystal
clear about the handful of values that must be present
in our lives, but when we’ve done that we
then have Stonehenge-size markers to follow on our
path. Checking in each day or in different situations
to see how we are living our core values is an awesome
orienting tool.
A personal joy meter is another handy tool
for orienting yourself. Keeping my joy meter
pinging on the high side is a way of knowing
I’m on the right road. You know - the
follow your bliss advice. You need a meter to
see if you are doing just that – moving
with the flow of joy. Marks on my joy meter
measure how quickly I am moved to sing or laugh,
how easily I can let things roll off my back,
how often I am in awe, and how generous I am
with my smiles.
When I forget my essential nature and my life’s
purpose I get stuck in loops of fear, worry
and despair. I get unhappy, confused, and lost.
Riding on the fairy wings of joy gently and
shamelessly nudges me back in the direction
of my heart’s true north.
It’s helpful, too, to end my day’s
journey in the same way I started it – with
gratitude and praise. Before the candle flame I
once again connect with Goddess for she has blessed
me in more ways than I can ever number. I give thanks
to all the allies who have aided me on my path this
day. I can drift into dreamland, falling back into
the arms of Goddess, comforted in knowing I can
find my way there and back.
by Christine Thomas, Personal Life Coach, Visionary,
Midwife of Dreams
I love to work with women on a spiritual path. Check
out my monthly phone circle of women coming together
to support each other in living our connection to
Earth and Goddess at www.hawkview.net
