Many years ago, I was living in California and found myself in circumstances that led to embarking on a trip to the orient. In preparation I gave away or loaned out to friends everything I owned, with the exception of the contents of a backpack that I took with me. With a friend I boarded a plan to Japan, where we were to be met (maybe) by a friend of a friend of his. Not quite Columbus sailing off the edge of the world, but still a process that involved releasing most aspects of my external life. Just my friend and I heading off across the ocean.
Most of the time our lives are full of things we have planned. On-going commitments and schedules. Work hours, and tasks. Lunches, dinners or other activities with friends, partners, family. Books we are reading, music or movies to listen to or watch. Perhaps you are a list maker, checking things off that you set down last week, last month, or last year. Perhaps you have looser planning processes, broader intentions that lead to a flow of activities each day. In any case the percentage of time that really is free for spontaneous creation is generally constrained.
The mind likes to plan, even if we call it dreaming, and then to run our lives on the basis of these plans or dreams. Modern society tends to encourage this, down to the weekly shopping and laundry schedules.
I am being reminded again that it is good to pause, to pause all the mental tapes, lists and schedules to see if they are really what we would choose to be doing? to make room for asking what would bring our soul joy? to stand still for a moment in the whirl of life and being brave enough to let the balls drop.
This is not to say you have to sail off to Asia. It is not to say that you have to stop all the gears at once. You may choose to pick up most of the balls again, or restart many of the lists and programs. But doing it consciously, you will have perspective on which ones really serve you, and which you may intend to alter or phase out over time. Most importantly you have given yourself space to be surprised; to be inspired by spirit, by yourself, to begin to see how to shift how you do things so they are more in alignment with your soul, or to remember a passion that you put down years ago.
When we do this all that is not the planning mind, to communicate with us about what we might want to do; for our inherent creativity to inspire small changes or large shifts. To literally, or simply in our imagination, take our life apart, consciously look at it and then reassemble it with a greater degree of ownership.
Moving into December, heading for the Solstice this is a good time to pause, to allow our doing aspects to “hibernate” a little, so that we can be informed by our being aspects. This may seem a scary thing: that is part of the program that drives doing and planning. We may have a voice that says, but what if nothing happens, what if I let go and I lose it all? There was a night I woke up before that long ago trip, in an unfamiliar, borrowed, bedroom, full of fear and uncertain of who or where I was.
I was on the cusp of the most amazing adventure, full of many surprises and much growth. I can guarantee you that no matter how deeply you drop into the “void” it is a place of creativity and life and something will show up for you. The natural flow of life will fill things in again, no worries.
So treat yourself to a pause. Allow the whirling gears to disengage and stop, even for a little, and see what gifts show up for you. This is a space of creativity, of joy, of letting out soul breath a bit more into our lives. That is always a wonderful thing. And if you wonder how to do this? just ask. Ask spirit, or source, God or Goddess, your higher self, your angels, or your guides. The answer will come if you make space for it by asking and listening.
(© 11/2008)
