OK so before we begin the excavation work that will get us back in touch with our True Self, with the Goo of Truth, first we have to get our house in order. You’ve got to set the stage, create the conditions before you can do the difficult work of facing the stories of your life and removing all of the garbage that has piled up over the years.
This means a couple of things:
Tending to your physical self. I’ve talked about this already. Deal with your addictions (we all have them, to one degree or another). Booze, drugs, too much caffeine, these things will clog up the system and make it harder for you to remove the blockages there. Get outside more often, spend time in the natural world, it will ground you here. You need to be present and accounted for if you’re going to start talking Truth.
Get your relationship to money sorted out. This is a big one to a lot of people (including me). We’ll talk more about this when we get into the nitty gritty, but for now figure out what’s not working and start shifting some things. Maybe you’ve always flown by the seat of your pants with money and it’s time to take a look at what comes in and where it goes out. There are all kinds of residual emotional things associated with money, it’s a hot button topic in this world. Before we begin to go deeper, get at least a minimal grip on its role in your life right now.
Boundaries. It is essential that you figure out where the leakages are in your life and repair them. Who or what is siphoning your energy? Even if it’s someone you love, someone in your family of origin, you MUST have clear and healthy boundaries in order to do any work on yourself. This is true in terms of your thinking, too. Is your mind constantly wandering back into the past, to a different time, to a particular person? Some nostalgia is fine but I am going to gently encourage you to be present in your life today. I give you permission to say No.
There is energetic work to do, too. This is where we start talking about things like your aura and chakras. You need to get them in good working order. It’s adorable if you think this is a bunch of hokum, but I can assure you that you are an energetic being, that you impact the world in an energetic way and the world does the same to you. Think of your aura like a lovely shimmering cloak of light that surrounds you at about arm’s length all the way around. If you wore any kind of covering every day it would sustain damage over time. The same is true of your aura. Visualize it healthy and strong, doing a good job of protecting you. I like to shake mine out on a regular basis. I also visualize myself removing any energetic globs of other people’s bs. Clear the space out. I’ve made a voice recording that’s down at the bottom 👇🏻 to help you with this.
Gratitude. So much has been said about gratitude in recent times that it feels like it’s losing any real meaning. Kind of like love. If you use the word too much it starts to mean nothing. There is nothing complicated about being grateful. I met a terrific person in Italy a few weeks ago who said, I start my day by saying Thank you. It’s that simple. Don’t overthink this. Be grateful you have food, shelter, a car that runs, a body that carries you. In time it will become part of who you are and your whole life will be a prayer of gratitude.
Re-cap: the work of excavation that will get you back in touch with the deepest truth of who you are: a radiant, gorgeous life force who carries the very same creative material and potential as the Life Force that has created every living thing, is hard work. It’s hard but it’s worth every minute.
In order to prepare yourself to do this work you have to get your house in order. You have to streamline, clear, clean. You have to get your act together. This can take some time, you’re not gonna get this done by bedtime tonight. It’s taken me a decade to get here, from sobriety onward, with lots of setbacks along the way. This is a daily, intentional practice. You can pay people to aid you, but, as I have said, this is ultimately very personal, intimate and intentional work. It’s the reason we’re here. To grow, to change, to challenge ourselves. We are not here to give in and give up, nor are we meant to set ourselves on repeat: rise each day and repeat yesterday’s mundane schedule. We are here to stretch, try, be curious, trust that perhaps concepts that feel foreign to us may hold some worth. Everyone gets to this point eventually: transform or continue to suffer. Or remain indifferent, skeptical and stuck. Your choice is your own and it’s fine. On the long and deep continuum of spiritual development you have plenty of time and you’ll get there sooner or later.
I know that you have lots of things to do and I know you like the safety and security of your routines. I also know that there is a world of wonder waiting for you right around the corner from the life you are enduring, the life that is actually not going that well. These concepts are not new. The ideas I’m sharing with you have been with us for thousands of years. Read a little Marcus Aurelius and you’ll see what I mean. I’m just bringing them to your attention, sharing with you my experiences playing with these ideas, the beautiful things that have happened along the way. The truth is that we are each infinitely capable of creating our own reality and that most of us are so mired in all of the crapola that has been heaped on us since childhood that we don’t have a clue who we are or what we’re capable of.
Curiosity is your best friend in this life. Let it propel you forward into new spaces and places (… let no sentiments of home detain us, the Cosmic Spirit seeks not to restrain us, but lifts us stage by stage to wider spaces … Hermann Hesse, Stages) If you’re still with me then you’re in for a wild ride and it’s going to get bumpy before it smooths out. But you can handle it. You were born a beloved radiant being and the sooner you get back to that condition, your birthright, the better.
Where it all began for me, Hatcher Pass, Alaska.
As mentioned, I’m taking our writings here and making two simple books: the Little Book of Living and the Little Book of Dying. They should be ready later this winter. Thank you, dear reader, for being a reader. 🙏✨
Here is the audio recording of the energy work I do.
The Cosmic Spirit
Great stuff!