I thought I would share with you the perfect image of how I felt this week – out of control on the sea of life. Now this was certainly not a week where anything out of the ordinary occurred, no big highs or lows – and yet my internal landscape has felt like that ship out on the changing choppy waters of life.
Yes, as you know planetary alignments, transits and placements really do influence and affect our lives. I did a little investigating and so I am not too surprised at why certain things are being magnified for me. However, we are not at the mercy of these influences; we still have some control over how we then go about consciously navigating the stormy days at sea.
Most days I am the lighthouse, sturdy, strong perhaps in need of a little touch up and tweak here and there. And then there are days that I am that turbulent ship, just wanting the reprieve of the shore to rest my battered and beaten mind and body. Holding onto the fading light of that lighthouse as I try and find my way back to myself. The self that is peaceful, strong, enduring, unwavering, wise, kind, loving, compassionate, forgiving, understanding, connected and whole.
Do you remember that self?
We are all born into this world with our true nature intact, whole, complete and here is the secret – our true self remains this way throughout our lives and ever after. You see it is the very nature of things that the moment we are born we are influenced, taught, persuaded and moulded into unique personalities, traits and conditionings.
This isn’t done with intent or even much consciousness. The family we are born into usually has its own set of conditioning and generational patterning that stems back to ancient times. While inherited traits and characteristics do play a role, so much more gets inherited from our family of origin than we ever know, unless we make a conscious effort to uncover and explore these beliefs and patterns in our life.
I heard of a family who always cut off the tips of the front of the chicken before cooking in the oven, the women in the family had done it this way time and again, each watching the other prepare a chicken for roasting. When the youngest daughter asked her mother why this is done, the mother would answer – “this is just how we prepare a chicken in our family”. She went on to ask her gran and other aunts and family members – eventually the truth came to light.
One day their great grandmother needed to prepare a chicken and when she placed it in her pan the chicken didn’t fit properly so she snipped off the top of it! Now two or three generations later and all in the household are preparing chickens this way – even though the pans are different and probably larger!
LIGHTBULB MOMENT ! Do you see the absurdity of how we walk around doing things just because they have always been done that way, believing things just because we have always believed them or others in our family did?
All of these quirks, behaviours, thoughts, and deeds form layers around our very being and hide the true self so effectively that we seldom stop to consider there is actually more to ourselves than just our neuroses, traumas, hurts and egos.
At first glance we are like the swells in the ocean, affected by the tides, moon, planets and weather. Some days we are calm and welcoming, others we are moody and overbearing. The swells are like our personalities and ego afflictions, while if we go below the surface and allow ourselves to drop a little deeper into the depths of the waters, we will come to a place that reflects the vastness of our true selves.
There are few places that still hold mystery and enticement for us as humans, our planet continues to be conquered, explored and exploited. The deep ocean waters are one such place that still holds a space where no human enters, yet it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hold answers to our deepest, darkest questions, longings and desires.
It stands to reason, if I cannot be the infallible lighthouse – whose time is also transient however many years it stands – then I need to discover where else to turn. The lighthouse will help many who cross its path, but will be abandoned with fading paint, broken windows and darkness without reserves of inner light.
The ship will have many adventures, many colourful experiences and stories, but has even less grounding, being at the mercy of the external world. The ship will always be searching, seeking, relying on others to fulfil its needs.
What is left but to return to our true natures – the waters, the deep, the all-encompassing hadal zone (the very bottom of the sea floor). Did you know the hadal zone is named after the Greek God of the Underworld – Hades. More people have been to the moon then have dived the hadal zones of the world’s oceans.
I think there could be no more profound reflection of humans than this little overlooked little-known fact. Very few undertake to find and examine their true nature, we would rather go out exploring the world, than what lies within our very depths. Something to consider isn’t it?
This is one aspect The Deeper Plunge Series will explore, the complex tapestry of being human, the layer and illusions we clothe ourselves with and what it will take to get to the bottom of this very holy healing soul and spirit work.
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