The Meaning of Your Life is to Be a Fully Expressed Human in Your Own Unique Way #54
Play the game of life that only you can play. Feel your own life force and express it in the only way that you can.
Dear Lovely You,
the meaning of life, to me, is about being a fully expressed human in whatever way feels right to you.
Fetching my neighbours dogs to go for a walk I notice how uninhibited they are by me. They’re not interested in food even though they haven’t eaten since yesterday because I am the walking lady. They bounce up and down unaware and uncaring of how daft they look until we get to the field. They try to contain their excitement while I put on their leads.
As we cross the fields they sniff the air, tails swinging. Picking up another scent, noses to the ground they pick up messages from other animals. They are totally in the now.
Up in the woods where I can let them off the leads they trot beside me or launch themselves among the trees. They spot a rabbit, squirrel or sometimes a deer and tank off determined to catch their prey. They miss the rabbits and squirrels most of the time and have no chance with the deer but it doesn’t stop them following their nature. They run off unperturbed by failure.
I am amused and in awe.
One or more passions?
Like me you may not have one passion. You may be enthusiastic about several or many things. You may have a talent for life that's lay dormant under years of responsibility and allowing your mind to run the show instead of your heart which patiently waits in the wings for you to remember.
We're programmed to believe that life is about work (any work even if you don't like it) and pay your bills and if you're lucky and you're alive and healthy after that to enjoy a bit of your retirement doing the things you love to do.
In other words, put off living the life of a fully expressed creative human being until - for many- it's too late.
Life wants to come through you.
Life force energy wants to be expressed through you in your own unique way.
The problem is, you’re so busy surviving and under pressure to do what society expects of you, you don’t pause to feel it. To know it. To take action on it.
But Karen, I have to be practical!
Yes I know we all have bills to pay. Many of us are or have been responsible for bringing up others or taking care of others.
And... to feel a vibrant enthusiasm for life we need to honour our nature.
For most of us, it doesn’t have to be either/or it can be both. Little changes can make a big difference.
It’s time to pause, reflect and start to prioritise…
Harnessing Your Essence
True Expression isn't necessarily big and successful. It's not necessarily becoming a CEO, having the latest car, saving a rain forest or inventing a machine that can clean up our oceans.
It can be that but it doesn't have to be.
It can be bringing up the most happy, balanced children on the planet.
It can be moving your body every day in a way that's just right for you.
It can be running a home while having just the right systems that make life easier.
It can be making discerning, conscious, sustainable and/or ethical choices about what you buy and consume.
It can be tending your garden.
It can be putting your heart into making delicious meals from scratch for your family.
It can be living a minimalist life and/or off grid.
In can even be caring for others (if that’s where your true passion is) while having the grace to care for yourself with as much intention and attention.
It can be [add your ideas here]
It can be whatever you want it to be.
Listen to your heart more and ask you head to step aside for a while.
My Simple Life.
My days look much the same. I need time on my own to recharge and I need to connect with others to feel alive and for feedback to know I'm on path.
I need balance.
I walk in nature most days or at least wander in our garden, touching leaves, feeling my feet on the ground.
Nature is where I find solace and flow. Nature is where I can completely be myself. Nature never judges, rejects or scolds. It gets me moving. It gets ideas moving. It helps me find solutions. It lifts me up and makes me feel alive. Nature is healing and never lies.
Nature, like the mad dogs, is not trying to be anything other than what it is. An oak tree is an oak tree. A sparrow a sparrow. A hare a hare.
“The more important a call or action to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.” Steven Pressfield, The War on Art
Sometimes I still get stuck in old patterns
I love to express my enthusiasm for life but old conditioning has been stopping me from fully expressing. I have been holding back, resisting.
Why?
Fear. Fear of looking wierd. Fear of being judged.
Fear that I’m not doing this right.
Fear that I’m not on the right path.
Making up stories in my head about what you really want or need.
I’ve been here before but it took me a while to recognise it this time.
I was making excuses. Maybe this writing lark isn’t for me. I don’t know what to write. What do they want/need?
But the only things that matter are that I am being fully expressed sharing what I know with the passion I feel for my topic of living a vibrant life that honours your True Self.
A life where people stop pretending and getting exhausted and really start to take care of themselves.
The more I express what I know, the more I learn. The deeper my own understanding, the more I have to share.
I have a very successful life. You might not see that if you compare my life to people livinging in big swanky houses with a car each and investments and savings. People who look, on the surface, like they have it all. Maybe they have or maybe it's an illusion spread by advertising, news corporations and big business. My life is not like that at all.
Finding satisfaction is the key
I know people, quite poor financially, who are very very happy and satisfied in their lives.
My successful life is simple and I try to make it as easy as possible by being organised.
My life is rich because of the fantastic relationships I have with my husband, sons, step children, parents, step parents, extended family and friends.
I cherish my relationships more than anything.
I feel confident that we are living an honest life and doing what we can to limit our footprint on earth.
My life is enriched by my hobbies of amateur gardening, painting and sewing.
My life is enriched by little adventures to the sea, walks with friends, visiting minor art exhibitions, colour and making my home beautiful.
I love to learn especially about self development, overcoming trauma and neuroplasticity and I love to immerse myself in a good self-help book.
I meditate daily which helps me feel present.
When I feel present I feel like light is beaming from my eyes I want to connect. I feel vibrant, light and alive.
Sometimes I don't want to do anything at all. I am quite happy lying in the sun or in our living room with the woodburner warming my bones.
The old farmhouse we live in needs some TLC but it’s perfectly functional.
The garden is a mess after years of neglect but attracts lots of wildlife. We face south looking out towards mountains and get lots of weather. The views change almost every moment and through the seasons.
We can hop over our fence at the back where we have a small spinney straight onto a public footpath. Walking up the hill across fields we can enjoy acres of public woodland.
And we have created this. We have chosen over and over to make a life that works for us.
And I love it!
Once you're clear about what's important to you, you can start making those choices too. Not the same choices as us but the ones that light you up and make you come alive.
Tell me about your longings and passions for a more harmonious, simple, ordinary life AND truly authentic life in the comments.
Know what you really want and be honest with yourself
I am a multi-passionate woman with a lot of different interests to share.
Trying to write in the same way every week does’t work for me.
I don't have the energy for it.
The energy comes when I am being my truest self. Then it flows.
I love sharing my life experiences and stories of how things go wrong and then get reshaped into some kind of rightness.
I love sharing my alternative life and views.
Sometimes I might love to share how I cook every meal from scratch.
Sometimes I would like to share how I declutter and reorganise a room.
I would love to share more of how I revel in nature, the birds singing, photos of the mountains and how moving my body there fills me up and keeps me in flow.
I have views and opinions about the world and how societal pressure affects our choices and can make us ill and how we can change that.
And I do love sharing my knowledge of what makes humans tick from twenty years of coaching and hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of work on myself.
I want it all. Not one passion. Not one right way. Not breaking off pieces of myself and leaving them behind or shutting them down. Dulling the edges and core of me.
I want to express it all in the hope that it will inspire you to express all that you are too in your own unique way!
Is it selfish to be so self-obsorbed?
You need to know yourself, really know yourself, to be able to feel better and take aligned action that helps you live a more authentic life and engage with your True Self.
I am not just one thing. I don't have just one passion. And trying to fit myself into that one box is inauthentic.
I want to write with joy and passion. I want to bring all of me to the table.
I want to stop trying to be all things to all people and be what I need for me so that you can learn from me how to do that for yourself too.
I want to bring out the fun, creativity and multi-coloured humour of function and disfunction.
I want to be real.
I want to be My True Self right here on this page.
Always.
AND…
I want for you to start tapping into your True Authentic Self so you can start to feel freer and more alive too.
My Hopes for You
I want you to feel happy in your own skin.
I want you to wear your Self-Worth on your sleeve.
I want you to be able to say no and mean it, without guilt, when there’s stuff you don’t really want to do.
My hope is that something I say will touch you in such a way that you find clarity and can take some small or BIG steps towards being your True Self.
My hope for you is that you’ll come home to yourself.
My hope for you is that you’ll remember your deservedness, not because you did something special or made a huge successful career or a lot of money, with a big house and a big car (although that’s all okay too if that’s your desire) but simply by being the You you’re meant to be.
My hope is you’ll find you can dance through life with the ups and downs and always know you will get through.
My hope for you is that you can reach out (to me, to your friend, your partner, your adult child, to others) and ask for help and support when you need it.
My hope for you is that you will learn to accept yourself exactly as you are.
My biggest hope for you (and me) is that you can play the game of life that only you can play moment by moment by moment.
With Love
from My True Self to Yours
Karen xx
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I love the dog, it reminds me of how Belle looks when she's just coming out from the surf after a good romp on the beach - great big smile on her face.
Lovely. Well put.