Last week, I had an enjoyable existential discussion about one’s life scope and how each of us is here for our unique journey. Of course, I know this, but my focus was on educating upon boundaries and encouraging a life centered upon balance and health and self care.
Each of us is here for different reasons and it is incumbent upon each of us to find that purpose and live it out. Some of us will do exactly that, some right out of the womb, others later in life and still others will never ever get to it in their allotted time on this temporal plane. My mother was one such individual. She had a life plan, but she never allowed herself to blossom or go beyond personal selfishness and all the pains she endured from an abusive childhood.
I hear excuses all day long about why we cannot rise above it, why we cannot find the job we want, the love we want or the life we want. Mostly it is all complete BS. We are filled with stories, we play the victim, or we play the martyr, wearing a mask rather than opening up to the joy of just being who we are.
We fill up our heads with the dross of the day when what is needed is a moment of introspection, of meditation, of Zen. With introspection, with some quiet, the internal voice inside can better guide us to our purpose and to the better daily choices along our travels.
No matter why you are here, whether it is to help folks leaving to the other side, entertain with song and dance or lighten the load by working on cars, or cleaning house, every single job is of a high value and should be undertaken with the utmost respect. Each of us matter. When we apply ourselves to the tasks at hand, we bring what only we can, to that work. The job may be transient, no matter, do it well. If you find you cannot do it well, it is karmically correct to leave it so that you are not filling a space inadequately where someone else would be better suited. If you are in such a line of work that you either don’t do well or flat don’t enjoy, don’t let fear halt your feet flying out the door. The universe is expansive and you will land where you need to be.
When you maintain your health, and your personal life balance is in order, everything else takes care of itself. Balance means different things to everyone of us, but basically, you want to divide your days/weeks/months in such a way that you have time for work, time for friends and family and the pursuit of personal pleasures, whether that be music, art, gardening, movies etc. And yes, not matter what freaking spiritual path you happen to be on, each of us needs this! You may not fear death. Still, you are in a physical body and that body has needs; fill them. This is one of the primary reasons I went vegan. You can remove or start out just reducing meat with new recipes you can try out every week. I really like the Thug Kitchen people and they have a book, Thug Kitchen 101 Fast As F*ck, has yummy quick recipes you can do during the work week. Their books are hilarious if you are good with some colourful language and vegan based.
Care for the body that holds your spirit. You are charged to do this, to honor and care for your temple. The body is both a joy and a burden in this life. Cherish it for what it is. Without the body, you would have no touch, no feeling. You would no longer enjoy or use oh so many things! Imagine yourself right now, just spirit with no physical form. You could fly through all materials as if they weren’t there, not feeling them. Wheeeee! You could fly through bodies, through water, through the clouds. You wouldn’t need a house to protect you from the elements. Materialism would hold no interest to you. What would you need money or a tchotchke for? Why would you want a Porsche? Life as a spirit is very cheap and easy. But we are not yet ready for all that. No, our time here is to learn how to more fully love and that begins with ourselves and our body mind and spiritual care; our temple care. Each of us is only here for as long as we need to be. Once our purpose is fulfilled, we beam up. For some of us, that is 100+ on this planet and for others a whole lot shorter. Part of this is going to be in the karma of how you care for yourself. I plan to age as gracefully as I can. My vegan and organic lifestyle is a great part of that, as is my firm change from 12+ hour days to one of balance.
Each of us is only here for as long as we need to be. Once our purpose is fulfilled, we beam up. For some of us, that is 100+ on this planet and for others a whole lot shorter. Part of this is going to be in the karma of how you care for yourself. I plan to age as gracefully as I can. My vegan and organic lifestyle is a great part of that, as is my firm change from 12+ hour days to one of balance.
Ageing – a neighbor just this morning was discussing ageing and how women, in particular, have such a struggle locating work after 50. This is not the first time I heard this. Having lost my PM job at age 55 in 2016, this was about all I was hearing. But it is a lie we fill ourselves up with. Again, the universe is infinite and so is possibility. Folks, we do not have to go gentle into this good night of losing our earthly mojo. Yes, we will all age, but we can do so with grace, with compassion and with mobility and strength.
I love writing about health and after decades of alternative health coaching with family and around the office, I took formal training last year, went vegan and began this blog. I review products and post links to things I love that I believe will help others but the blog here, going into 2 years, has not earned me a living…yet. With the layoffs at Sprint, I had a window of time to get the blog going and complete my schooling but once that was done and I sat here earning $575.00 a month from my pension with 2 mortgages and a good 5 years away from my planned retirement, I began to think about working again, like…for a corporation or some such.
One thing about being as old as I am, I know people. It was folks I had worked with in the past that came to me with offers. This is so humbling and amazing to me! But, the point is I did not ever have to go searching for work. Work came to me. I had some offers with less pay than I was used to making and some that were a lot higher. I landed in the role I wanted, one that was quite a bit different than what I did in the past and yet similar, with more money and working from my home office. I’ll be 56 in November so don’t please, whatever your age, let age be something you worry about. Provided you take care of yourself, you will enable yourself to live a higher quality life and one that can be free from heart disease, diabetes, chronic aches and pains, lack of mobility and keep a full set of teeth. How do you currently take care of your car? I believe this to be a great indicator of how one cares for the body. It’s a great metaphor. If you take a look at your vehicle and say uh oh, go clean it up, get the oil changed and make new plans that include better self-care.
I cannot recommend yoga enough for connecting the mind, the spirit and body. This book, My Body Is A Temple by Christina Sell, is a brilliant companion to your practice! One of my long time favorites is Baron Baptiste 40 Days to Personal Revolution, which is a combination of poses as well as a structured spiritual path. I go through many books and typically pass them on to save space. This is a book I keep always. The breathwork you learn with yoga will both expand and heal the lungs as well as teach you how to breathe under duress. Yoga teaches us to both live in the moment and to accept that the moment will change. If you are feeling discomfort, this will change, as will all of our joys. Yoga is expansive and healing. I have seen it straighten crooked spines and reduce inflammation. It is a miracle. All life and love is change but what we label as bad is not always so, it is simply a necessary transition. When we accept our responsibility to honor our temple, honor our body, we take on the burden of learning the best ways of eating, of living, of lifestyle that enables the best quality of life. Be open to change, change is good.
