The dark night of the soul, a term coined by 16th Century Spanish catholic monk and mystic, St John of the Cross, is a descent into a dark internal chaos where you are confronted by things about yourself you have not seen or experienced before. By exposing the corruption of the monastic institutions of his era, St John was locked up in a dark confined space, released only for public humiliation and abuse on a daily basis by his brotherhood, until he was finally able to escape. His profound spiritual work during this time laid down a framework of how to transmute the raw emotions of distress a human naturally experiences when faced with unjust circumstances, such as hatred, anger and vengeance. It was essentially a purging of these parts of himself, using the power of his spiritual faith and prayer, and no doubt influenced by the modelling of forgiveness by Jesus Christ himself, with his declaration on the cross to 'Forgive them for they know not what they do', that helped St John to transmute the darkest parts of his human nature into a force for light and unconditional love.
Like many mystics found in most religious institutions across time, St John crossed the veil from religious dogma and doctrine into a universal cosmic territory, mapping out a soul transformational healing process for the collective human journey in his dark night framework. Meaning the dark night process is a soul-driven (or God/Life-driven) journey of releasing the unhealthy parts of our ego identity, caused by cultural conditioning and trauma that no longer serve our life path. Hence my re-coining of St John's 'dark night of the soul' to the 'dark night of our ego identity'. The dark night can happen randomly or be triggered by an event or a sequence of events. As you start the descent down, you will reach for every distraction-strategy in your playbook; from addictive tendencies to victim narratives of blame and entitlement. With our love of control, as humans, uncertainty is not something we relish. At such times we will do anything to maintain the status quo and are easily unconsciously drawn into our survival patterns that help manage the chaos, confusion and unpredictability. A dark night process is initially one of the pain of loss, and as a 'beyond the mind, mystical and mysterious' process, we sometimes won't even know what we are losing in the early stages, yet we will still feel the acute pain of grief with every cell in our body. If you sense you are currently in this incredibly brutal and annihilating, yet ultimately transformative process..... Welcome to the death of certain parts of your ego identity that have made you who you are, to date, but are no longer fit for our greater Life purpose. You are currently in a life review and the process of becoming, my Darling, so please trust this process. I once heard a wise soul say regarding a 'dark night' process, 'when in hell, go to hell'. Surrendering to the process is the first step. Don't fight it. Its real, its happening. Our job is to hold tight, anchor ourselves to what is healthy in our lives, ideally recruiting experienced and wise human support to help make sense of the internal confusion, and stay aware of our urges to block or numb ourselves from this process of healing. We are being called to learn to TRUST the heck out of our life and our intuitive/divine guidance system which will feed us breadcrumbs of information, that although may not make much sense in the actual moment, will start to paint a greater picture overtime as to what we are letting go of and where we are heading. This is a transformative healing process that is rewiring you in a new direction that you do not have the eyes to see yet. In the face of this internal disturbance, you have two choices: to flow with the organic process, embracing the initially painful learnings it has to offer you, or push against it and inevitably stay stuck in varying degrees of repetitive pain. If you are crying everyday and not sure why, welcome to the dark night. If it feels like life is against you at every level, welcome to the dark night. If you keep losing things of value to you and you think it can't get worse but it inevitably does, welcome to the dark night. We are now forced to be totally reliant on our spiritual and intuitive guidance that will lead us step by step through this healing process. And that includes respecting the pain of loss. If you think you can cry no more, think again. You are releasing, my Love, you are letting go. You are transitioning, you are becoming what you were always meant to become but you have to let go first. And there is no set roadmap for the journey, requiring you to build the muscles of endurance, surrender, trust and self-connection through it all. If this is not the most rigorous of character development programs I have ever come across, I really don't know what is. Hence, I salute you if you are currently in this. This is why I have been sharing information (see below) on our intuitive guidance system, which may include your spiritual senses. As a moment-to-moment truth teller, our intuitive guidance system, feeds us information in random and piecemeal ways, as the 'dark night' process requires us to move from our old frame of reference to a new one. This 'beyond the mind' process does not come with an instruction manual, yet we are essentially required to navigate the enormity of both a death and rebirth process simultaneously. This means we are feeling and sensing our way in the dark towards something NEW that our piecemeal intuitive guidance is helping us to build, puzzle piece by puzzle piece. Our intuitive guidance system helps us to navigate this process in a world that may be shouting at us to keep everyone happy and maintain the status quo. In order to go though a dark night process effectively we require: a) a connection with our intrinsic esteem (see below link for more info) to hold strong through this personal growth process that many around us will not understand b) trust in the guidance we are being given even if it doesn't make sense at times (and if you are experiencing grief, THAT is the guidance. You have to go through it) c) know how to accurately perceive and read the guidance that is assisting us to grow and evolve. This means building our ability to DISCERN the old, that is currently dieing (and might I add has been distorting our ability to SEE clearly), from the glimmers of the new which will be, in part, your ascension to becoming a more clear-sighted, intuitive, wise, and spiritually aware mature adult, for starters. Here's some very important anchoring messages that may support your Dark Night chaos, confusion and pain, if you are in the thick of it right now:
With this information at hand may we allow ourselves to turn towards this 'dark night' process, if we are going through it now, by holding hope that if others can survive it, we can too. Thankfully we are at a point in Western history where we are more receptive to this type of information to support our evolution as human beings, instead of staying stuck in the trappings of mainstream pathological models of having long-term mental and physical health conditions that need to be medicated away. This may be helpful but is not the long-term solution for a crisis of the soul/identity/your life journey. You are being called to grow and evolve. We are no longer allowed to continue with the path we were on and this is the re-route for our life. If you sense you are in a dark night process right now and resonate with the information I am sharing, keep following my posts, website and YouTube channel. I will be supporting you to identify and release any outdated and unhealthy patterns of your ego identity so you can become the clear vessel required to accurately interpret and detect the emerging 'new' through your intuitive guidance system, both body-based and potentially spiritually guided. Please keep in mind this is a inter-faith based dialogue, holding a container of love for all spiritual and philosophical creeds, for no spiritual or philosophical path is exempt from a 'dark night'. It is a universally experienced phenomena undertaken by souls strong enough to sustain this incredible evolutionary journey that holds human healing and beyond at its core. Lots of love to you, and with much gratitude to the courageous and wise soul who was St John of the Cross, Kira X Your Intuitive Guidance System: The Ultimate TruthTeller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry9y9x8X0o4 Your Intrinsic Esteem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQZW-vadzc4 Information on the Tracker: https://www.counsellingtauranga.co.nz/blog/the-intuitively-perceptive-multi-sensory-body YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@kirafollas2991 FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559357951966 Website: www.counsellingtauranga.co.nz Email: [email protected] Below is a beautiful piece of art that helped carry me through my recent 'dark night' by a very special friend, Emma Prill https://www.emmaprill.co.nz/
0 Comments
We are moving into a new cultural paradigm. We are waking up to the truth that we have always been enough, despite our expected mis-steps and limitations as human beings. We are now leaning towards a new understanding that we are all equals here, on equal standing, and with equal value, no matter how we are showing up in the world, in all of our messiness, and all of our beauty. This means we are no longer chasing our enough-ness through the old value-based lens of acquisition, status, wealth or material things. We are instead allowing the truth of where we are at, in any given moment, to lead us to the next best self-healing steps at hand, even if that means hugging ourselves in as we reach for our 6th chocolate bar or take another swig of Gin. This 'staying with ourselves, no matter what' practice ushers us gradually towards becoming all of who we are meant to become in this lifetime: from the humble and often deeply painful beginnings of unlearning all that we are not, to the soothing healing waters of becoming all that we are called to be. This is a shift from culturally-determined prescriptions of what is of value (and therefore what is not), to intuitive instruction from an internal code and compass embedded within you, that resonates as your personal truth at the deepest core of your being. Intrinsic esteem is perhaps an abstract idea that cannot be fully grasped until experientially felt in your body. The way that we initially help activate this natural self-worth and connection, comes from practices that treat us as such. Much like forgiveness or the experience of unconditional love, experiencing your intrinsic esteem is a 'beyond the mind' process and visits us initially like a butterfly lightly landing on your shoulder until it becomes more and more of an everyday 'felt sense' experience. The ongoing actions and practice of showing up for yourself, with an attitude of 'all of me gets to be here' is required to firstly SEE our wounded ego strategies and patterns so we can then tweak these patterns towards new ways of operating in the world that are in alignment with our truest expression. At this point of human history we are in an internal revolution of sorts, breaking the intergenerational survival patterns of our ancestors from the inside out. As we break away from the old paradigms of being separate from each other in a hierarchical structure of 'perceived' winners and losers, our pervasive denial and minimisation strategies to keep the greater collective happy and maintain the status quo, shame-based perfectionism and its whipping stick mentality, and the valuing of science and logic over body-based intuitive and faith based-guidance, embracing our intrinsic self-worth is but one part of this enormous reshuffling that is occurring at present in Western culture. And it is a part we all get to play in this counter-cultural revolution, whether we are aware of it or not. It is our journey towards wholeness as individuals, as societies, and the greater global collective as a whole. In summary, our intrinsic self worth cannot be quantifiable or achievable by scientific, logical, step by step measures. In other words, we cannot mentalise or positively think ourselves into intrinsic self-worth. This is instead a 'beyond the mind' healing process that happens on its own terms, in its own time. Our sole job is to activate the optimal conditions for the beginnings of this beautiful 'felt sense' experience to grace our human body, like a divine visitation of sorts. With increasing awareness, through our multiple senses and the intuitive/divine guidance they provide us, we learn to listen to, and sense and feel into this gradual healing and rewiring of intergenerational patterns through our own psyches. We are in the throes of a revolution of sorts, but one that is internal and individual, that spreads its light to those around us, like a restorative contagion, as we heal as a humanity towards wholeness. Starting from our own personal and individual healing, this naturally spreads to a greater societal healing, and that, my Darlings, is the game right there. If you are doing this invisible, yet critical, work, I see you, I hear you, I feel you, I love you, I honour you and I thank you :) If you resonate with this blog, I hope the material I offer in both my FB page, website and YouTube channel helps enlighten, give meaning, and provide encouragement on what may feel like the tolling aspects of your highly attuned, multi-sensory, empathic system. Your need and search for truth, and to do the right thing, no matter the circumstances, may not necessarily be welcomed, nor understood by your surrounding culture or tribe/s, but by creating a supportive, respectful, inter-faith based community who are on a similar journey, I hope we are all encouraged to keep moving towards an integrity-based and love-led united human collective and global community. The Experience of the Intuitively Perceptive Multi-Sensory Energy Body
If you relate to being multi-sensory, you know that you can sense, feel and perceive more than your own field and psychology. It's like you are a radio station picking up on a number of channels at the same time. This level of perceiving can include other's emotions, thoughts, perceptions, patterns, sensations, symptoms and even illnesses. Your perception may also extend into sensing spiritual energies and other dimensions, including plants and animals, group/collective energy, solar system shifts, and perhaps even foreseeing upcoming events and changes. This can feel very overwhelming, collapsing and confusing without the tools to know how to accurately interpret what your highly attuned multi-sensory body is experiencing. This blog is dedicated to sharing a beginners tool to support you in learning to read your own multi-sensory system, so that you can a) take good care of it and b) understand the gift of its communication. Seeing life through the lens of the Tracker - A tool to help interpret your multi-sensory psychology Imagine if we could see our lives the way fish in a fish tank see the outside world. Its impersonal. Life is coming and going, and changing moment by moment. In a similar way, we can use a technical, impersonal lens to collect data on ourselves and the different situations our life presents us, much like fish peering through the glass of their tank as life continuously unfolds around them. If we can start to regard our bodies as an energy system, we can learn to see thoughts, sensations, emotions and urges as simply energy moving through our physical body. By doing this we can begin to witness our physical body as multi-dimensional. Because this is what it means to be multi-sensory: we experience multiple feelings, thoughts, perceptions, attitudes, patterns, sensations, and urges running through us simultaneously moment by moment, some of them belonging to us and some of them belonging to others. An example of this could be 1) feeling into the field of someone you care about who you know is suffering whilst simultaneously 2) holding the intention to parent your children with love and care at the forefront. Additionally 3) you may also notice anger rising in you when having a seemingly neutral interaction with someone, for which 4) your inner critic starts attacking you for. You may also be aware that 5) there is a distinct feeling of dread in the pit of your stomach for which you cannot identify its origin and with this 6) an urge to go source some chocolate asap to curb the discomfort of this uncertainty. As you can see, being multi-dimensional in this way, can sometimes feel very overwhelming and exhausting, without a guide to help us read the multiple strands of information we are experiencing. And the above example is a simple one. Imagine what walking into a mall or crowded space for a highly attuned person could be like, especially if the chips are down and resilience low! To witness, identify and name the different elements of our experience is what I will refer to as your Tracker. This is a force within you required to be cultivated to simply collect data, taking note of the factual information at hand without judgment. It is a grounded and technical way to discern the data running through your physical body. By naming what is true for you in any given moment is what we could call taking a read on the data. If you notice you are flooded with too much data, try taking a moment to write down the different components of your experience. This exercise, in and of itself, may help to calm an energy body that has become information-flooded or empathically overwhelmed. And if that doesn't help, the 'instruction' from a body out of balance is always to 'source ways to help it back to balance'. Our body needs our help and our job is to assist it. Once it comes back to balance, clarity of perception naturally emerges. Taking a read on the data The accuracy of our intuitive perceptual skills will only ever be as good as the shadow work we have done on ourselves. We need to clear the clutter and debris of our own psyches to see reality clearly instead of through the outdated black and white filters of conditioning or trauma. We have a tendency, as humans, to project away what we don’t want to see in our own psyche. For example, if we have been taught by culture to shut down emotionally, we struggle to discern or empathise with others' feelings, even as highly attuned people (and especially for males in a culture that has taught them that their strength lies in disconnecting from their emotions). So we need to know and hug in our own insecurities, fears, and places of shame, mapping them out well enough to understand what could trigger us into reactivity. This is ultimately a form of esteem work, and when we are comfortable with the truth of all of who we are - the good, the bad and the ugly - reactivity tends to dissolve and life simply doesn’t trigger us in the same way. Locating the wounded parts of ourselves and their recruited defence patterns takes time and can initially be a bit of messy process, but I will be offering some information on the patterns I see getting in the way of peoples clarity, in due course, to help you on the journey of tracking your own psychology and understanding your own inner landscape. For now, however, I encourage you to practice using the neutral pattern of Tracker; to discern your truth in this now moment, without judging or making any part of what you are experiencing wrong in any way. Accessing your Intuitive Truth: an example of using the technical lens We can start to practice using the Tracker lens right now as you read the information shared here. When I am sharing information, it is simply information; not good, bad, right, wrong....but just information that your physical body will either resonate with, or not. Knowing what resonates and what doesn't through your subtle sensory system is you discerning your personal truth in this moment. For example, notice when your ears prick up, something registers deep inside, you experience the 'full body divine tingles', a sense of 'dots joining', or a sentence or word gleaned that peaks your interest….we can pay attention to these kinds of invaluable signs running through your highly attuned physical body to move you towards or away from something. Equally, we can NOTICE when we are triggered by a wounded, unresolved part of ourselves that needs to be hugged in and attended to. The difference here is that it won't be a moving towards or away from feeling, but more of a rattled, discombobulated feeling. You may feel emotional, irritable, unwell, flooded, overwhelmed, exhausted, angry, perhaps even disassociated. A reaction like this is your ally: a signpost to wounds that need healing or conditioning that is outdated. This requires our attention to clean the distorted filters that get in the way of getting a handle on reality as it actually is. Once our energy body becomes a neutralised container we naturally find that we can hold different situations, beliefs and points of views, with ease. Keep in mind, however, there can be another type of triggering which may be entirely appropriate to a situation. We all have a conscience, an innate moral compass of sorts, which is connected to the core of who we are. This part of us also speaks to us through our physical body's sensory system. Violation of any kind; mentally, emotionally, spiritually or physically can require an immediate response that could look and feel like a triggered reaction. The closer we are to our integrity and conscience, the more confidence we have to speak assertively into the topics that are truly important to us, and we can step away from these moments with a sense of peace that it was the right thing to do, even if our reaction may have rocked the boat or appeared uncharacteristic for our personality at the time. A good way to check this is to ask yourself, 'had I not reacted in that way, would I have been haunted for not speaking or stepping up in that moment?' As an example of using my own Tracker to drill down on one aspect of my now moment experience, let me share with you my real-time processing of one of the bouts of reactivity I experienced in my physical body yesterday around a frustration of people being so black and white, steeped in deep bias and prejudice towards that which they hadn't taken the time to understand. As I write this, I am processing the fact that 1) I feel sad that parts of humanity are still so closed in their perception due to unchecked black and white conditioning, and 2) the Idealist in me grieves that this hasn't changed yet. Tears are running down my cheeks as I write this as I 3) release somatically the energy of sadness out of my physical body, grief that we are not yet where I would prefer us to be as a human collective. Simultaneously 4) I am aware of my faith-based beliefs/knowing that everything is exactly as it is meant to be at this point of time, and that change is not only possible but inevitable. This brings peace and relief to my mind, body and spirit, so that there is room for me now to move more fluidly throughout the rest of my day, without the extra added layer of stress of repressed grief being carried around in my body. This unexpressed grief could have otherwise created a low mood and heavy energy in my psyche, and a narrative that there is no hope; this being just one of the many examples of the different expressions grief could potentially take if it gets stuck. In Summary: Change is constant and resistance to change causes suffering, as Buddha has wisely taught us. Our physical body is changing moment by moment, so staying attuned to ourselves and our multiple senses, never making them wrong, but instead honouring the data coming through us, we have an opportunity to get to know ourselves at a deeper level. What needs to be cleared from our system, can be cleared. What needs to be taken heed of, can be honoured. What needs to be transmuted for the better, can be healed. And as we get more skilled, with the helpful neutrality of our Tracker, what is data or information about others, can be used discerningly and conscientiously. And finally, what you intelligently discern to be the greater collectives that has landed in your physical system, can also be released. By befriending our many channels of information we learn how our multiple senses are trying to communicate with us and we can utilise their gift of communication for the benefit of ourselves and the greater system of which we are a part. Whilst this may seem like a challenge at first, as we learn to track our multi-dimensional physical body for data, impersonally and without judgment, it can become an extremely interesting pursuit, and one of the most loving acts you can give yourself as an antidote to the shame-based messages you may have received growing up in a 5-sensory culture as a highly attuned, multi-sensory being. It is this act of self-connection that enables you to see more clearly than ever before, honouring your physical body, your temperament and its gifts, and touching into experiences of transformation and healing that you may have never thought possible for yourself and the greater collective of which you are a part. Te Whare Tapa Whā - A Maori Model of Health and Wellbeing Māori health expert, Mason Durie, developed the Te Whare Tapa Whā model of health in 1984. This model encapsulates a Māori view of health that has five dimensions: Whenua (earth/environment), Taha Wairua (spiritual health), Taha Hinengaro (mental health), Taha Tinana (physical health) and Taha Whanau (social health). Different parts of a wharenui (meeting house) represent each of these dimensions. Without these different parts, the wharenui would collapse, exemplifying the interdependence between, and powerful influence each dimension has on the other. In Māori culture, taha wairua is acknowledged to be an essential requirement for health, but as Durie points out, it is an often misunderstood approach to wellbeing because, although it is universally experienced by humans as a subjective ‘felt sense' experience, it defies translation into words so is infrequently spoken about. Taha Wairua includes experiencing times of spiritual connection which could encompass the 'felt sense' of awe, wonder, interconnectedness, faith, hope, insight, meaning and purpose. This could be, for some, felt via the experience of karakia (prayer) or equally, for others, the awe experienced watching the sun go down. Taha wairua also pertains to unseen energies and spiritual awareness. It is believed that without spiritual awareness and knowledge of the things that uplift the human spirit in a 'felt sense' way, an individual can be considered more prone to ill health and lack wellbeing. Taha wairua also includes things that bring meaning and purpose to one's life, encompassing a quest for wholeness and knowing who you are, a search for hope and harmony, belief in a higher being or beings, one's connection to ancestors, a sense that there is more to life than the practical and material aspects of it, and activities that give value and meaning to people’s lives. In Māori culture specifically, it can include things like whakapapa (genealogy), atua (ancestors), karakia (prayer), sacred whenua (places) like Marae, sacred taonga (objects) like pounamu, spiritual concepts like mana (power, essence, presence) and mauri (life force energy), and tikanga (custom). Cultural devaluing of Taha Wairua and with that, our 'felt sense' experiences The Enlightenment period, swiftly followed by the Age of Reason, was a period of history from the 16th to 18th centuries in Europe of cultural and intellectual revolution. At this time, European society underwent a staggering transformation, in part as a reaction to both the superstition and control fostered by the medieval church. This period initiated a profound advancement in the liberation of the intellect, doing society a great favour in overturning the absolute power of state and church, which included its scapegoating of witches (the witch hunts across America and Europe in the 15 and 16oos) for the many religious, economic, climate, war and conflict misfortunes at the time. As the West's love affair with logic, intellect and science continued to grow and gain momentum during this period, what was now regarded as unreliable and subjective, including our innate intuitive skills and spiritual beliefs and practices, began to be devalued, initiating a process of gradually writing off the domain of faith, moral instruction, and spiritual direction held dear to humans for millennia. People who were intuitively, spiritually and mystically inclined, found both inside and outside of religious structures in the previous centuries, retreated to positions of lesser social authority and status. Mystics, who were influenced by both their passion for mind and reason, as well as God and Soul; and Shamans and Healers, who often worked with plant medicine and different spiritual energies, were much less welcomed as legitimate contributors of value to society at large. For millennia, up until the Enlightenment and Age of Reason, spiritual belief systems and concepts have acted as a bridge for humans into a direct connection to God/the Divine/the Sacred and were regarded as essential in navigating life’s inevitable uncertainties and challenges. One example of this is the practice of prayer, found across most, if not all, religious and spiritual traditions. Prayer induces a state of FAITH in asking a higher intelligence to show us how to best show up in the world and to illumine the right path and course of action for us in challenging times, as well as to assist us in our personal and moral development. It is the ultimate act of asking empowering questions, in a 'felt sense' field of grace and trust, where we can expect to receive the guidance and strength we are seeking. There is no greater placebo effect than this (in rational scientific terms) when faced with the unavoidable challenges of the irrational, unpredictable and uncertain aspects of the natural universe of which we are a part. In Gratitude to Taha Wairua: a bridge to reclaiming our Spiritual Senses and Multi-Sensory Temperaments In a culture in which there is currently a spiritual void for many, and in the face of dealing with challenging situations that require us to go beyond the rational mind in our approach, taha wairua is a doorway to restoring balance between our rational, logic mind and the cosmic human heart. As we enter an age where more and more people are seeking a spiritual pilgrimage into the depths of what it means to be a whole person living a meaningful life, taha wairua offers a legitimate pathway back to a spiritual foundation which ultimately supports the overcoming of adversities, understanding our own unique callings and life path, and the ethical and personal development of our character. As a therapist, I have come to understand that solely bandaging the practical issues arising in one’s life in a rational step-by-step way, to be inadequate for a human soul starving for spiritual replenishment in a mainstream culture devoid of such conversations, let alone practices. It is to taha wairua, I personally hold the deepest gratitude, for its support in opening these much-needed conversations in contemporary times where we find increasing openness and receptivity than in the centuries prior. A beautiful person once shared with me that life is like a tapestry that requires discovering the right threads to complete it, as we go through our journey. A tapestry unable to be wholly appreciated until we can stand back to see it, in its totality. This resonates with me. Life, over and over again, strikes me as an active creation of this tapestry as we weave the pieces together, moment by moment, thread by thread, in resonance with our own truth. It can sometimes call for blind acts of faith as we follow the guidance of what we know deep within us to be the next best course of action to keep our creative and life force energy in flow.
That’s why it would be remiss of me, after so many years of studying and teaching healing (be it for psychological or physical issues, or both) to not speak into the spiritual and mystical aspects of the healing journey, and more generally, the journey of life. This is not to exclude or minimize the importance of medical and specialist expertise, both allopathic and complementary, nor the wide-ranging holistic health practices on offer, but more to highlight that we cannot dismiss that which is beyond ordinary human comprehension as not only a legitimate pathway for healing but for some of us, a key player in our recovery process. Spirituality is a broad concept with room for many perspectives. It is a universal human 'felt sense' experience that defies translation into words, encompassing warm, peaceful feelings of interconnectedness, faith, hope, meaning and purpose. In general, it includes a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves, and it typically involves a search for meaning in life. Mysticism, on the other hand, takes us a step further. You will find mysticism baked into all religious and spiritual traditions, all of which subscribe to the common belief that we need to know ourselves deeply to gain clarity on reality as it actually is and to perceive a higher purpose for the life we have been given. As humans, we gather and accumulate protective mechanisms from our challenging life experiences, often obscuring our ability to see reality as it is, requiring a consciousness journey to dissolve identification with these unhealthy aspects of ourselves. This is ultimately where symbolic sight and deep wisdom reside with a growing ability to read the ever-present 'felt sense' of our intuition and guidance, and a greater potential to tap into a connection with a higher intelligence, however each individual chooses to define this. Intuition and guidance is, simply put, about working with our truth moment by moment, even if it doesn’t make rational sense or is well received by those around us. It goes beyond the well-reasoned, logic mind and moves us into an intuitive ‘felt sense’ orientation. It also enables us to move beyond taking life events personally by transcending into a higher altitude perceptual awareness; one that is neutral, unbiased and symbolically meaningful. It asks us to step into the realm of TRUST, FAITH, SURRENDER and OPEN RECEPTIVITY, where we may perceive a greater intelligence to be at play, and where, in a state of humility, we can stay open to the divine design of our own unique life path and what it is calling us to do (which might I add, may not be what we were expecting nor even wanting for that matter!) It is a soul-aligned journey that could be connected into any philosophical, faith-based, spiritual or wisdom tradition of our choosing, requiring a diligence towards ongoing encounters with truth through self-reflection. We all have multiple senses through which information and guidance is constantly coming to and through us. At a base level, if we are sad, for example, the emotion is the guidance. We need to process our sadness in a way that best fits us, remaining open to the small whispers along the way. At a more symbolic level, guidance pertaining to our broader life journey may appear as internal 'felt sense' nudges, auditory messages, visual data, or a sense of simply knowing or feeling a truth from deep within us. We may receive information from a person or book that deeply resonates or piques our interest. In addition, we may also experience symbolic or prophetic messages through dreams and/or visions. These types of guidance simply mean we feel, in our inner most being, a resonance of truth – it feels right, it’s clear, and it comes from a place of neutrality rather than from a scattered psyche riddled with fear, anxiety or frenetic energy. I was re-awakened to my own guidance system in an earlier episode of poor health when I learnt to connect with and listen to my physical body. As I began to treat my body as a best friend, it guided me moment-by-moment, in baby steps, towards healing. It was the intuitive nudge to ‘shift your position this way’ or ‘try sitting under a tree and breathing’. These small whispers that I learnt to detect over time helped me to incrementally shift what could have been a lifelong pattern of dis-ease into a healing process. The key learnings of this initial intense physical crash were holistic health practices, beyond the mainstream medical ‘pill for an ill’ approach, and the importance of respecting my body rather than beating it into submission. But essentially and most importantly, I learnt the need to still myself and listen with open receptivity for my intuitive 'next steps', moment by moment, day by day. On the second intense episode of poor health, 8 years later, it felt different, like I was drowning with no ability to break the surface for breath. It was suffocating. What was actually happening, as I eventually came to understand it, was an overloaded psyche desperate to purge and purify itself. It was ultimately a crisis of my soul (the inner most part of my being) showing itself symptomatically through my body and mind, which required a rigorous fistfight with the unhealthy parts of my ego identity, as outdated conditioning and trauma-induced belief systems that had been unconsciously running my life, surfaced one by one, to be healed. This was revealed to me out of the blue via a number of different intuitive channels. Dreams connecting me to ancestors; auditory downloads; visuals coming to me giving holographic context to situations in my life; an out-of-body experience; and a honing of my perceptual awareness of the sacred (however one chooses to define it) speaking to and through me. I can offer no proof of these experiences except that I live to tell the story which broke me open to a new reality that has supported my physical healing. The guidance received during this time, once I surrendered into the process, answered two major questions I had been grappling with for many years. They were: How do we understand and heal from intergenerational trauma? How do we hone the skills of the multi-sensory system/temperament? Although I did not realise it at the time, I now know I had to experience this process in order to translate and language the answers to these questions, both of which I was to discover were interconnected. It confirmed a pattern I had been observing in healthy multi-sensory people in my clinic: that many are called to partake in some form of healing and transformation as part of their earthly assignment, be it that they are breaking intergenerational patterns of addiction, abuse, or outdated conditioning and belief systems. That when their own psyche is clear, with their enhanced awareness of the bigger picture, they have the uncanny ability and unwavering courage to transform and heal aspects of their lives, which has a ripple affect into the wider system of which they are a part, modeling a new pathway for future generations to come. I have learnt over time that although life can feel so darned overwhelming as a multi-sensory person, because we pick up on SO much of both our own and other/s material, when our health is balanced and our skills refined, we actually have souls strong enough, and perceptual skills attuned enough, to do some really tough but incredibly vital work to lead the next generations into a healthier way of Being. Our multisensory system, I have discovered, when we come to understand the gift of it, enables us to SEE holographically, understanding CONTEXT: your context, beyond your accumulated limited conditioning and trauma-induced belief systems, and the contexts of others, bringing appreciation to why, we as humans, do what we do and have done in the past. Hence, leaving us with nothing or no one left to blame as we swing the pendulum back to neutrality through a clarity of perception. Please note that as a multi-sensory you are also human, and it can be very challenging on your psyche to a) receive information at this higher level, b) process it until fully absorbed and accepted, and c) do something about it, if required, which can oftentimes go against the current of your mainstream tribe or culture. Also, if you have been carrying the conditioning and trauma lenses of your forebears, it can be very confronting to recognise your part in continuing harmful cycles. This is where the words of Jesus Christ, one of the greatest of Mystics himself, are so pertinent ‘Forgive them for they know not what they do’, now adapted as a personal mantra for myself as I continue to clear my own blind spots, and will continue do so for the rest of my life, 'Forgive me for I know not what I do'. A practice of humility, I have come to understand, has been essential in cultivating a trusting relationship with my multi-sensory nature. This is the mystical aspect of the healing life journey that I often see multi-sensory beings taking. As they clear and clean up the debris of unhealthy intergenerational patterns, through their inherent abilities to see a more nuanced picture, they courageously make different choices for themselves and pioneer a new path forward. This appears, from my clinical observations, to be a compulsory mission for many multi-sensory beings who are keenly adept at tidying up their own interior, as it persistently knocks on their door, which hones their inherent perceptual skills to see with precision through eyes of nuance and neutrality. In so doing, they tend to model and lead the greater collective into the new evolutionary paradigm I believe we continue to walk towards; that ALL life breathes together. That to make a difference to this interconnected web of life, of which we are all a part, requires transformation at a deep individual level which, with time, contributes to the growth and evolution of the greater human collective as a whole. This is, as I see it, invisible and oftentimes solitary, yet vitally important work to be undertaken by a courageous minority. To those people, I salute you. I see you. I hear you. I feel you. I honour you. I love you and I Thank YOU :) If you resonate with this blog, I hope the material I offer in both my FB page and website help enlighten, give meaning, and provide encouragement on what may feel like the tolling aspects of your highly attuned system. Your need and search for truth and to do the right thing, no matter the circumstances, may not be necessarily welcomed, nor understood by your surrounding culture or tribe/s, but by creating a supportive, respectful, inter-faith based community who are on a similar journey, I hope we are all encouraged to keep moving towards an integrity-based and love-led united human collective and global community. The following information is taken from the ‘high sensitivity’ research of Dr Elaine Aron. Whilst this research provides us with an evidence-based body of work, after a decade of my own personal clinical observations and experience working with highly attuned, multi-sensory beings, I am acutely aware that it is more nuanced than what the science presents us with, and deserves more elaboration, particularly in relation to how to work optimally with our multiple senses, and in particular, the spiritual component of this.
Through my observations I have identified highly attuned people with healthy esteem, robust physical constitutions and adequate supports and lifestyles, who don’t need as much downtime as the research may suggest, and may be thriving despite some of the traumatic experiences they have been through. Those without adequate supports, however, unresolved trauma and less robust physical constitutions are likely to (like all humans) to be reliant on unhealthy coping behaviours to survive in the world. These expressions can range from neurotic (self-blaming) tendencies right through to self-focused, narcissistic tendencies. Spoiler alert: highly attuned people may have had to shut the empathic aspect of their nature to survive in the world. Additionally when generalizing a population in this way, we can erroneously think multi-sensory beings are all the same, which couldn’t be further from the truth. We all come to planet earth, as humans, with different passions, missions, assignments, strengths and weaknesses. On the one hand, you may find a highly attuned person to be a conservative, values-based, charitable human while others identify as progressive liberal activists for whatever cause/s that are important to them. There is no one right, wrong, good, bad, better than hierarchies on this front. All is allowed and welcomed for that is reflective of the beautiful biodiversity of life itself, keeping the sum of its parts in balance. Most importantly, it must be stated clearly that high sensitivity is not a trait to be diagnosed or cured. Instead it is a normal variation of the mainstream temperament. With adequate education and support highly sensitive people have the opportunity to thrive in this world being who they are, as opposed to who they think they should be to fit into the mainstream five-sensory world. For those of you interested in the research about this temperament, please find a brief summary below. And for more information you can access the research online at Dr Elaine Aron’s website, https://hsperson.com, as well as her many books for sale online, including The Highly Sensitive Person. Four characteristics of the Highly Sensitive Temperament based on the Dr Aron's research: 1) Depth of perceptual processing using the five senses and beyond. This means higher degrees of empathy (more mirror neurons produced), conscientiousness (awareness of what is needed, and an eye for the finer details) and clear intuitive abilities (with a healthy psyche). With a deeper awareness of subtleties and nuances in their environment this can lead to… 2) Overarousal, overstimulation and overwhelm in a culture not designed with their sensitive nervous systems in mind. It is therefore vitally important for HSPs (highly sensitive people) to take regular downtime and have the skills to regulate their more easily triggered nervous systems that are picking up on a multiplicity of subtleties and nuances in their environment, from slight temperature changes to suppressed emotional content in others. They prefer calm environments to maintain regulation, and stay within their window of tolerance. And if overstimulated beyond their capacity, without the skills to healthily protect and boundary themselves, can find themselves triggered/stuck in a maladaptive stress response. Mental and physical health issues have been found to be more prevalent for this temperament, especially if there have been less than adequate childhood circumstances. Education and appropriate support is key to healing and recovery if such issues have developed. 3) Deeper emotional reactions, both to positive and negative stimuli. A big challenge for HSPs is that they can find themselves deeply distressed about the suffering of others: humans, animals and their environment. Feeling their emotions more intensely they are more inclined to do what it takes to resolve that which is uncomfortable in their psyche. Hence the 'wounded healer' is a strong pattern coming through in HSPs as they heal self to heal others from my clinical observations. 4) Awareness of others feelings including picking up on the subtle signs of repressed emotions in others, and this can cause confusion and overwhelm as a child without appropriate guidance and support. Clarification around High Sensitivity: • 15-20% of the general world population are regarded to be highly sensitive, Dr Elaine Aron coining them the ‘Priestly Advisors’ (with a stronger ‘pause to check’ system) to their counterparts, the ‘Warrior King’s (with a stronger ‘go for it’ system) • HSPs are not necessarily more sensitive to other people’s needs, especially if their baseline of wellbeing is not at an adequate level and there is unresolved trauma. • High Sensitivity is also not all about being over-sensitive to criticism, although this can happen if, once again, their baseline of wellbeing is lower than required. • High sensitivity is not a trait to be diagnosed or cured. Instead it is a normal variation of the mainstream temperament • There is a spectrum of high sensitivity, where individuals can come to understand their own unique flavour of the trait in order to support their body and psyche to cope and thrive in today’s mainstream culture. Other characteristics that have been found to be correlated with the trait of high sensitivity are: • They are often the first ones that know what needs to be done becoming pioneers in different fields ie. Einstein, Ghandi • Potential for high creativity • Sensitive to physical pain • Have a rich, complex inner life and/or connection with soul/spirit life • Prefer meaningful conversation topics with depth over short talk • 70% are introverts, the remaining 30% regard themselves to be extraverted • There are equal numbers of HSPs in males and females • High sensation seeking (one foot on the brakes and the other on the gas) is another challenge for some HSPs who have a desire to explore, are easily bored ,and feel a need to take action, despite having a nervous system that can't handle as much as they would like it to. This can lead to a physical crash/burn out state. We are all born into the world 'tabala rasa', predominantly as a blank slate.
Our template is set up by the earliest messages we receive: both implicitly (through modeling) or explicitly (through language and instruction) Although my childhood was privileged, behind the scenes was ongoing trauma. I was convinced as a child and into my early adult years there must be something wrong with me, that it was somehow ALL my fault. If anything went wrong around me I would immediately blame myself, no questions asked. If I sensed other people were emotionally upset, I would automatically assume it was all my responsibility and would set about doing everything I could to reduce their suffering. Even without trauma, our 'tabala rasa' blank slate is programmed by our early childhood experiences. Children up until the age of 7 are in the same brainwave state as someone under a highly suggestible hypnotic state. All inbound information is swallowed whole without question. So our programming is imprinted from ALL of our experiences in combination. What we see, hear and sense in our environment (often subliminally) becomes a belief-determined filter, governing our overall perceptions and choices in life, for good or for bad. So because I believed that there was something wrong with me, my prerogative in life was to prove to the world that I was an OK, acceptable human being. That I was of value and had something useful to offer. And because in the West, we tend to value high achievers, working hard and pushing through, even to the detriment of our own physical bodies, I got sucked into this too. 'Toughen up' and 'Get over it!' became my everyday mantras... We also tend to accolade the self-less: the generous and charitable spirits of our society. Now don't get me wrong, being productive, charitable and generous are all admirable traits! Just NOT when they are taken to the extreme and come at a cost to the human body. And these were the qualities I adopted in extreme to prove my worthiness and receive what all human beings crave at a deep cellular level: love and acceptance from others. These behaviours were what predominantly made up the mask I wore for the world. And the more I wore the mask the more distant I became from my own true self. The mask was so stuck-hard to my face for so many years I didn't even know it existed. I had no awareness of the mask, thinking it was the real me but never feeling quite right in myself. Wearing this mask caused my body insurmountable stress. The mask pushed me in a direction that went against who I am and ultimately the person I was meant to become. But life has a funny way of course-correcting us when we are off track! As a result of this unconscious stress, a very painful wake up call entered my life in my late 20s: a chronic illness fraught with misunderstanding by both the medical profession and general public called Myalgic Encephelomylytis, more commonly known as, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, true to its name, comes with industrial-strength fatigue. It was like someone pulled the plug out and crawling from the bed to the toilet was commonplace in the early years of having it. Light, noise and stimulation were unbearable and I found myself predominantly in a darkened room, losing my previous life as I knew it. My dream job was lost and I could no longer properly take care of my children or continue my studies. Off the back of Glandular Fever, it felt like the virus never left me. I could barely lift my head off the pillow, my flu-like symptoms and systemic muscular pain so excruciating. With my immune system shot to pieces, viral and bacterial infections landed me in hospital a number of times. And my brain turned to mush. The severe cognitive dysfunction made words coming at me sound like gobbledygook and stringing sentences together seemed like an impossible task. Everyday was 'survival'. It was confusing too because the odd day I was semi-functional. At these times I would often think to myself that it must be all in my head, and try to catch up on my 'to do' list, only to crash for days, weeks and sometimes months all over again. 3 years later I received the medical diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia with the proverbial 'sorry, there is nothing we can do for you - you need to learn to manage your symptoms' spiel from doctors and specialists. My quality of life was so bad at the time that I silently resolved myself to either getting better or ending my life. Keeping my children in the forefront of my mind, I went online to search for recoverees of such-like conditions. Little did I know at the time, my unraveling health crisis was the gateway to finally making what was unconscious in my life, conscious. It was not only the beginning of a healing journey for my physical health but also a healing journey for the WHOLE of my life. In fact healing means to make whole again, to restore back to wholeness - mind, heart, body and spirit. I learnt that everything is connected: past, present and future and most importantly, that our early programming impacts the choices we make in our lives; for example, the relationships we attract, the environments we choose to put ourselves into, the food we ingest, and the way we operate day to day, and treat ourselves and others. I learnt that the way I had been living my life, and the mask I had worn unwittingly all those years, had set up the optimal conditions for me to become very, very unwell. I also had the recognition that if I had the power to contribute to creating illness, then I also had the power to create wellness. Human belief systems and habitual behaviours, however, don't like change. Its requires a pro-active conscious effort to shift the broken record of our entrenched conditioning and automatic behaviours. Whats more, if you feel like the 'living dead' experiencing a 'living hell', mustering up your already limited energy to reflect upon unhelpful conditioning, and most importantly, taking action to 're-wire' your life towards wellness can seem like an insurmountable task! This is why what is known as 'Mindfulness' became the most healing medicinal tonic in the early stages of my healing journey. This required only my focused attention: to become present in the moment and observe my thinking patterns, the very thought patterns that had contributed to pushing my body to its limit in the first place. It was disturbing to discover the broken record that was my own dysfunctional thinking. In the background, like a low volume radio station, I realised the songs that had got stuck on replay were my worst enemies. The six inches between my ears, the noise-making machine, as Echarte Tolle calls it, had taken me for a ride in a very misguided direction. I also noticed the direct correlation between the unhealthy, nasty self-talk and how I physically felt. No wonder I had been plagued with migraines, headaches and sore tummies all of my life! The body, I discovered, was talking to me. It had been crying out for my help for so long only to be met by my own personal whipping stick, beating it back into submission as I kept pushing through. With a developing awareness of my unconscious programming, I was able to gift myself the ultimate antidote to the harsh bully tactics I had been forever dishing out to myself. The remedy was simple: kindness, gentleness and a well overdue slower pace of life. This was supported by a gentle curiosity to discover who was sitting beneath the mask and underpinned by an ever-growing acceptance of the different aspects of myself, both negative and positive. It was a heart-rending experience to reconnect with the flame that burnt bright as a child but had become dimmer and dimmer with years gone by. And this was just the beginning of my healing journey. All up, it has taken a good five years to get my body back to a decent level of health. And it wasn't without a lot of trial and error as I learnt more about my own physical body and what it ultimately required to self-heal including reaching out for support, something my faulty conditioning dictated was not for 'strong, independent and successful people'! Over time, old habits of over-helping and over-achieving slipped into the background as new healthier habits based on a solid sense of self-esteem took their place. From being a ‘yes to everyone’ girl I learnt to navigate relationships in a more healthy, genuine and authentic way. From being a controlled, rational and reasoned thinker, through the conscious changes I was making, I became more creative, trusting my instinct more and acting on inspiration, rather than the unreasonable demands from inside my own head. From a period of chaos, crisis and de-rangement I was able to discover a healthier arrangement that was eventually to become the ideal balanced and sustainable lifestyle, long-term. So contrary to the concept of cure, which has a view to eliminating or masking our symptoms, I learnt that healing demands that we re-examine the way we are living our lives. True healing actually insists that we look at every aspect of our lives, reviewing and assessing whether we are on the right track or not. Implementation of mini bite-size palatable actions ultimately led me to increasing levels of health and a better quality of life whereby I am now able to be more real and authentic, without the tiresome mask that had dragged me down for so long. In my work as a counsellor, I notice that people get so busy, so caught up in distractions that they miss the moment and they miss the absolute ultimate: connection with their truth and their reason for being here. They come to me because they find themselves derailed by relationship or health issues, often due to a series of poor unconsciously made choices. And true to the magic of life itself that totally has our back in every way, the body crashes or the emotions become too uncomfortable to ignore anymore. Its life waking us up to the path we are actually meant to be on if we are brave enough to get curious and take a peek :) These life relapses, whether relational, emotional, spiritual or physical, usually happen because people have missed the important stuff way, way back in time. They lose sight of themselves and may even have a mask on as I did. By taking time to slow down, reflect, and bring some self-compassion into the fold, they find themselves 'landing' back into themselves so they can actually bring the best expression of themselves to the world in a way that allows them to thrive, not continue to sacrifice and bring harm to themselves. The lesson I take from my own personal health crisis is to give myself permission to slow down and be kind to myself. Its from this foundation that we can actually start to make healthier decisions that support the WHOLE of ourselves. From here there is a natural flow on effect to everyone and everything around us. Because your potential to thrive in this lifetime and the legacy you leave depends on you not losing yourself along the way. So here's to creating the space to reconnect with yourself regularly in a kind and compassionate way so you don't lose touch with the truest authentic expression of yourself in 2019 and beyond.... Happy New Year Everyone :) Kira :-) Ph. 021 027 18127 A beautiful thing happened to me this past weekend.
The past couple of months have been hectic and I have missed my weekly visits to my grandmother, much loved and known by her many grandchildren as 'Mutti'. Mutti is in a resthome now and her quality of life is not the best. She feels sick a lot and lacks the energy she would like to have, spending much of her time on her bed watching TV. Today when I arrived to spend some time with her, she tells me she would prefer to close her eyes. This gives me permission to tell the truth too. I tell her I don't feel the best either and would love to join her in a 'closing eyes' visit. Well, low and behold, as we both close our eyes, her on her bed and me next to her in a chair, I begin to verbally purge everything stuck in my heart. Before I know it all my troubles and woes; my grief, my confusion, my despair and my disappointments.......and following this, my heartfelt gratitudes for everything wonderful in my life were spewed out on to my beloved Mutti. Relentlessly. Barely a breath taken in between. With both with our eyes closed. Tears streaming down my face as I did this, I felt Mutti's undivided attention as a safe haven, her loving presence was deeply felt, listening patiently and reverently as I continued to pour my heart out to her. The awe-inspiring power of unconditional love and listening with the heart, not just the brain, hit me like a ton of bricks through this unexpected, yet treasured encounter with my grandmother. I left my visit with Mutti feeling cleansed and regenerated, no longer lugging the weight of the world around, the weight that had unwittingly crept up on me due to an imbalance of 'doing' more than 'being' in the world. When we get busy we don't notice the important stuff. And that stuff gets stuck. We need to release it, otherwise it turns into symptoms and behaviours we often regret. I am so grateful for this one person in my life who I feel so accepted and loved by, to the degree that I can spill out the content of my heart, to my hearts content, and feel reborn all over again. And I hope you all have a very special person in your life like this too. If not, please find one because they are an invaluable and necessary support, helping you travel the sometimes very tricky tightrope of life in a conscious and intelligent way. Here's to the power of listening with the WHOLE of ourselves; mind, heart, body and spirit. What a true gift of healing that really is. Kira :) Ph. 021 027 18127 PS. The image below is the Chinese Character for the verb 'to listen'. Wellness in every area of our life requires a life in BALANCE.
If you are extreme in your behavior and patterns in your life in any way – overly messy, overly clean, overly attached, overly busy, overly self-critical or critical of others, overly body-conscious, health conscious, money conscious, overly controlling or even overly introverted or extraverted, this can create stress which leads to an IMBALANCE in your body and your life on the whole. Your body has a remarkable capacity to communicate with you and it does so through unwanted symptoms, habits and emotional states. If we don’t listen to its whimpers, its going to start to cry. And if we don’t listen to its cry, its going to start to scream. And if we fail to hear its screams we are likely to be looking at a full scale physical crisis of some sort. Tracking back to when the body started to whimper can be very enlightening indeed as to what may have precipitated the imbalance in your body and life in the first place. If you notice you have some extreme or excessive patterns in your life you could try asking yourself ‘How can I become less extreme in my behaviours and habits?’ and take some small steps to break excessive patterns. For example if you are overly controlling, try sitting back and watching; staying connected with your breath as you observe situations rather than rush in and interfere. If you are overly messy, try de-cluttering one small area at a time and celebrate each time you do so. If you are overly money conscious, try leaving a tip (even if it’s the smallest tip) or buy yourself something small, but of value to you, that lets you know you can spend money on yourself and you are worth it. If you are overly busy, slow down, take in your surroundings and connect with the moment. Human beings are literally walking unconscious patterns. As famous psychologist Karl Jung said ‘until you make the unconscious conscious, it will control your life and you will call it fate’. If we can start to notice our unhelpful patterns – that is bring them into the light of day – and start to de-escalate their charge and hold over us, something quite magical can start to happen. And that, my friends, is a greater sense of balance in our bodies and our lives. So as you go about your day today I encourage you to notice your patterns of excess, without judgment, and then take a small step to reverse any patterns of excess. Take the charge out of your extremes, develop new and more sustainable, health-promoting patterns in your life and watch the potential beauty of your life unfold. You might just be pleasantly surprised at what you discover! PS. If you start to make small shifts and changes in this way and you experience high degrees of stress and anxiety please contact myself or another professional. Patterns of excess often indicate there is something deeper going on and this CAN be healed. You will be doing your body and your life a massive favour by getting appropriate support for yourself and learning skills for life :) Kira :) Ph 021 027 18127 I love authentic, genuine conversations.
One such convo that has been coming up in recent times is this issue of boredom. Boredom of the ‘same old same old' grindstone of habitual routine. This feeling of stuck-ness can lead to physical symptoms of lethargy and lack of motivation, emotions from sadness to irritability, and a general spiritual malaise of ‘what’s the point?’. The point is boredom is the messenger. Its one of those uncomfortable, yet temporary visitations making us more alert to our life hunger, as Marc David calls it. Just like real-life food hunger, life hunger is a primal driving force built into our genetic coding. It’s like a personal growth programme wired in at the deepest level of our DNA calling us to grow and transform into the very best versions of our selves. Life hunger encompasses the multitude of unique yearnings we have for novelty, meaning, purpose, connection, growth, learning or creativity, and much much more. As the unrepeatable miracle that you are (NOBODY has the same fingerprint as you!) there is no one else in this world who carries exactly the same life hunger. So its stands to reason that we need to start expressing this unique yet hugely important part of ourselves in the very best way we know how. So get connected to what is truly important to you no matter how crazy or unconventional it may feel. And if there has been something you have been hankering for, be curious about how you can start to reach out, touch, feel and begin to breath life into it. Even with physical limitations we can make things happen that satisfy our life hunger and align us with our life purpose. A gorgeous local woman with chronic illness decided to write letters of support (‘love letters’, as she called them) to people around the world who were suffering from physical disabilities. Her life became purposeful by virtue of engaging in these meaningful activities, her illness coming second to the rich life she had created for herself despite her limitations. Focus on what you love, and if you don't know what that is, your assignment is to get curious about what piques your interest, make contact with it, and let the rest unfold from there.... Here's to happy ‘life hunger’ satisfaction at every level of your life, Kira :) Ph. 021 027 108127 |
AuthorKira Follas is a qualified counsellor and works as Wellness Practitioner and Group Facilitator in New Zealand. She is also a survivor and thriver of multiple physical and mental-emotional adversities and is a Mum to two awesome teenage lads :) Archives
September 2024
Categories |