There is Nothing to Fix - Beware the perils of spiritual and psychological idealism.

It seems to me that our notions of psychological and spiritual well-being are, in short, way too hygienic. Driven by an idealism that the universe itself cannot possibly sustain, we waste our time obsessing over our flaws and trying to fix everything.

For is not the nature of the universe characterized by that which is light, and that which is dark—two sides of a coin, necessary to the stability and health of the whole construct?

This is likewise true of our human nature—you can’t have one without the other.

Life approached from such a hygienic stand point is bound to create more suffering and neurosis, not less, simply for the fact that it isn’t designed to live up to our lop-sided preferences.

Not to mention that nothing grows in a sterile environment.

Any attempt to white-wash or ignore the bitter, darker aspects—betraying a blatant preference for the sweeter, lighter ones—will only result in destroying opportunities for spiritual and psychological growth.

Life isn’t only sweet and sunny, ever. We must learn to deal with this reality more intelligently and patiently.

Acknowledgement and acceptance of the beauty of the whole construct may be helpful. Becoming more curious about the value in the dark side of life may also be helpful.

Handing out lollipop-type philosophies and advice isn’t. We need real sustenance in a world full of the pain, suffering and joy of existence.

So, being flawed isn’t right or wrong, it just is.

Fixing ourselves isn’t the point. There is nothing to fix.

Living a spiritual life is simply a question of good management practices—building an adequate skill-set, educating the heart and mind with intelligence, patience and a good dose of humour in order to deal effectively with all the ups and downs.

Meditate on this. Probe the deep silences of your heart. Eventually, you will locate freedom.

And with freedom the opportunity to make the world around you a little better, a little more beautiful for your having been here conscious, aware and alive to the whole, fertile construct—not just your favourite parts. 

Soul Growth - It's not about money and fame. So, what is it about? Why is it important?

Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow. –Kurt Vonnegut

This strikes me as a very bold piece of advice especially given the expectations we have of even our small children—that they should take an interest in their native passions ultimately with an eye to performance, rather than a means of taking joy in self-expression and personal growth—an end in itself.

The quote was taken from this letter he wrote to a high school class, but I think it is good advice for any of us to follow who are looking for a little more juice and sustenance in our everyday lives.

And I think, in this regard, that the thing we really need/want from life is to feel more enthusiasm, joy and love—relatively simple pleasures, accessible, there for the taking, which is where creativity and the arts come into play.

Play being the operative word. Enthusiasm, joy and love of life are nowhere more apparent than in acts of play—singing, dancing, fiddling with a piece of music on the piano, writing, colouring—that have no other end than the simple, but vital, edification we get from participation in the process, not the performance or final product.

Performances are fine. There is nothing so thrilling as beholding the excellence of a well-executed performance, but even this level of excellence needs to be rooted in a foundation of enthusiasm, joy and love, else it becomes one more thing draining one’s life energy rather than enhancing it.

We do not, after all, exist to live up to the expectations of others, nor they to ours.

Crafting our lives using enthusiasm, joy and love as guide posts, therefore, makes sense. And practicing art for the experience of becoming, of finding out what’s inside us, of making our soul grow also makes sense.

So, don’t wait for permission (either your own or others) and don’t waste time believing you need to be an expert in order to justify participating in an act of creation. 

All any of us really need is our native passion and enthusiasm.

"Whatever games are played with us, we must play no games with ourselves." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Games abound and currently there seems to be no bigger game in town than that played by the marketing strategists, life and business coaches, and branding ‘experts’ popping up everywhere like McDonald's.

The bait, if you will, is success. Most, in one form or another, promise ‘success’ if only we follow their particular prescriptive for 'making it'.

It seems to me we need, at the very least, to question what it is we are being sold here.  We need to think critically, if we want to make solid decisions and maintain some degree of sovereignty over our lives (a notion integral to my personal definition of success).

A good place to start could be to ask ourselves how we might define success, irrespective of the conventional metrics that everywhere measure it by ranking things like a large pile of cash (and other markers of superior status), above things like mental, emotional and physical wellbeing.

What about having enough free time for cultivating a culture of compassion and contentment (other notions integral to my personal definition of success)?

If we have no free time for the contemplative arts—anything from meditation proper to swimming, to, perhaps, screaming down the autobahn on your street bike—if there is no room to experience life in deeply pervasive and life-enhancing ways, then what are we here for?

Personally, I’m not up for prostituting myself out to the amassing of wealth—the gold standard (ironically) by which, as I say, we measure conventional success. 

And then dying?! 

Is it just me? Does that not seem a painfully sad waste of a human life?

I don’t have any definitive 3-step plan to sort out what the best solution for living a full and joyful existence is for the billions of us who live here on earth in widely divergent circumstances.

What I do believe is that it is up to each of us to make the quest. We must take responsibility for the education of both our minds and our hearts, and out of that very bold quest answers will come.

Remember: whatever games are played,  play no games with yourself.

Keep it real. 

Keep it close to heart and soul.

What does it really mean to live our truth? It means frisking ourselves for bullsh*t.

What does it mean to live one’s truth? Let me start by telling you what I believe it is not.

It isn’t a patriotic-type waving of one’s own flag. It also isn’t about personal branding, a trend I think is regrettable for its over simplification and superficiality (no one, and I mean no one, is ever as one dimensional as personal branding encourages us to think of ourselves as being).

Living our truth, then, must acknowledge the reality of being human as magnificently multi-faceted and complex—a dynamic, ever changing sort of entity. 

What may be true for us when we are young, for instance, may not prove to be just as true when we are older.

So, getting in touch with our truth may mean getting in touch with our truths—yes, down the rabbit hole ... it might also be helpful to understand that we are not looking for iron-clad answers to the question of what it means to live one’s truth.

What is important is to be a sincere and patient listener. It also helps to be brutally honest, for often the truth has a gritty side to it, as the writer David Foster Wallace observed: “The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.”

Eeek!

Perhaps all he meant to point out is that if we go in search of the truth expecting all to be roses and rainbows, we will be sorely disappointed—we need to beware our propensity for deluding ourselves.

And isn’t that precisely why it is important to locate the truth in ourselves?

So …

Don’t settle for anything less.

Frisk yourself for bullshit on a regular basis.

Live your truth.