Inspiration

What Inspires Your Heart?

Lately I have been reminded about the importance of feeling inspired in our lives; about what it means to live a life full of vitality and purpose.  I feel sad for people who may too often feel they are “just getting by,” without a guiding star to light their journey, especially in their darker times or when the world itself seems cast in turmoil.

So, how does one find that guiding star that leads to their own True North? Purpose, meaning, service orientation, and mission come to mind as avenues to explore.  Inspiration is grounded in a clear sense of positive, life affirming potentials in these regards and in the confidence that it is possible to express and fulfill these potentials.

Now of course, a person’s sense of purpose, mission and potential may vary considerably from day to day and certainly shifts over the course of their lifetime.  For some, they may feel their primary purpose is to serve and share with family, coworkers, and community, giving unconditional love, generosity and support.  Being able to serve their loved ones and community in such capacity can bring deep fulfillment and fresh inspiration, day by day.

For others, it may be artistic talents or career activities that could even propel them to sacrifice normative relations like marriage and family to develop their capacity to serve their art or career or even life itself by expressing their wise thoughts, vision, hopes, and dreams that may inspire not only their own adventures but also others.

I take inspiration at its most basic definition to be the “in-dwelling of Spirit.”  However you might personally understand or define Spirit (i.e., life force, Divine Love, “the Universe”, etc.), It is life-giving and life affirming, bringing vitality and positive awareness into our hearts and minds and leading us ever further to explore  not only our own potentials but that of the cosmos at large.

I will share that honestly this renewed focus on inspiration is partly in response to an apparent recent upsurge in stark negativity in world affairs.  From wars to mass shootings to political polarization and rampant materialism, it can seem that a sense  of purpose or mission, meaning, service orientation, and inspiration itself may be lacking or on the wane in many sectors.

We—most of us anyway—cannot readily change the world, yet we each have the capacity to seek out and to find our own True North: guiding principles and values that bring joy and happiness, and acceptance of differences, into our own life journeys.

images are from pixabay.com

When I was young, going to college in my twenties, I rode around on a little Puch moped as that was all I could afford for transportation. I had this image of “Hitch(ing) My Moped to a Star” as I scooted about in my purposeful activities of going to school, sharing with my friends, attending spiritual classes, and the like.  I went to the first Star Wars film (A New Hope, episode IV) 12 times on my little moped, feeling like I was a rebel fighter in my individual speeder (that could reach 40 mph!).  I felt inspired and strengthened by hitching my path (metaphorically, my  little moped) to a Guiding Star, even practically as a moped can feel pretty small in relation to all the big trucks and cars whizzing past!

So I encourage you to reflect on what truly and deeply INSPIRES you! What is really worth focusing your energies upon, and what is not?

Better Endings to All!

Name Your Elixir!

After the initiatory achievement of Apotheosis (see September posts), the adventuresome Hero (you, for instance!) may partake of the Elixir of personal empowerment. Such Elixirs may come in many forms: Manna from Heaven— as my sister, the Rev. Lee Ireland’s guest blog discusses in last Sunday’s post; or Logos/the Word; Spirit essence; spirit waters; Ambrosia of the Gods; or more simply, an empowering sense of enlightenment or awareness that empowers personal Life Mission to serve Life!

I guess my elixir is, ideally, humility. To me, humility is the awareness that the “best that I have done” has been of divine inspiration and service. I like the phrase: “Love is all, and do as thou wilt.” (From Stranger By the River, by Paul Twitchell)  Love and humility are the best cocktail I could drink! They fuel an ardent passion to serve Life.

An elixir may be as pure and simple as an attitude, like humility, that comes with your  success in some endeavor or service that benefits the Whole. Some elixirs we might contemplate this month are:

Gratitude

Compassion

Empathy

Unconditional Love

Joy

Harmony

Balance

images are from pixabay.com

I welcome this month any suggestions of elixirs which you seek or from which you have benefitted.

So, name YOUR Elixir!

Together, We Are Love…Early Childhood Memories

Thursdays are Guest Blog days at Better Endings. On our weekly topic of Childhood Memories, I found a Daily Prompt set of posts from December 2012 all about peoples’ “Earliest Childhood Memories”. Reading through them I realized that the vast majority of early childhood memories, like the one I posted from my own life on Tuesday here, are about Best Friends or Best Pet Companions. Mandi’s comment Tuesday reinforces that (reposted as #1 below). And so I re-blog three “Early Childhood” memories.

(1) Comment from Mandi of Caged No More (on betterendingsnow.com, Jan. 27,2014):

I love your story of true friendship! It sparks many memories from days long ago, when Renee, my bff, and I met in 5th grade homeroom. I will never forget the first thing she said to me! “Do you want to arm wrestle?” I could not have found anyone more different than me to connect with, but we absolutely clicked! My best friend and I are still going strong, 18 years later! Wow…that seems like forever to me. There is no one else in my life outside my blood relatives that I have known for such a long time! I think its wonderful that we have these precious childhood memories of our dearest friends to reminisce upon in our lives today.

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(2) Re-blogged from Vandysnape (Daily Prompt on “Earliest Childhood Memory”, Dec. 9, 2012)

Thanks to The Daily Prompt‘s new blog post idea, I get to write about my earliest childhood memory.

Before I begin with my earliest memory, there is a bit of a family history that you should probably know. When I pose the same question to my sister about her earliest memory she’d tell me some stories about things that happened when she was just 6 months old. I think that’s an elaborate cock and bull story that she always pulls off on me. My father’s told me that his Uncle could remember things that happened when he was in his Mother’s womb. Well,…Let’s just say that I’m reserving my judgment on that. So, in a family with such ‘history’ of good memory I seem to lack that skill very much. See that little baby in the left side of blog’s banner [picture not uploaded-LW]? That’s me but I have no memory of that phase of my life.

My earliest childhood memory is in my kindergarten classroom. In the first few months of school I felt very homesick but was fortunate enough to have a sweet classteacher Mrs Ramathilakam who put with a whole class of cry babies. I was also quite lucky to have a kind girl for a classmate. I remember her face vividly. She was a very fair and chubby girl with a coconut tree hairstyle much like mine and she brought the coolest set of goggles to school everyday.

Every time I cried, she would put on the goggles and give me a big smile. Then, I would stop crying. If she put down the goggles, I would cry. This went on for sometime but never once did she stop being cheerful. I don’t remember how we both talked to each other. She spoke Malayalam and I spoke Tamil and neither of us knew much English to have a lively conversation. Yet, we both laughed and smiled at each other. She was also the first person to teach me a Malayalam word “Vellam”(Water). I don’t remember much of my kindergarten though. I think she left the school in UKG. It is all very vague right now. I try hard to recollect her name but I guess it has just left the realms of my memory.

Yeah.. Vague it may be but thinking about all those good memories brings some warmth to the heart and I hope the girl grew up to be a kind person as she was the day I met her. So, what’s your earliest childhood memory ?

About vandysnape Hi ! Welcome to my blog… I’m Vandhana. what about me? I’m a huge Beatles and Ilayaraja fan. As my friends say I’m always 15 – 30 years behind in music .. I love reading books ..Well,actually Harry Potter introduced me into reading ..So , I’m trying to catch up with as many novels as I can.. But non-fiction is a strict no-no for me 🙂 🙂 My blog is a reflection of a few strands of my thoughts.. Very random.. I don’t stick to a particular genre. But Hope you find it interesting 🙂

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(3) Re-blogged from keiththegreen on Daily Prompt (“Earliest Childhood Memory”, Dec. 9, 2012)

Childhood Revisited:

My first memory was my mom catching me sharing cookies with our dog. Truth betold it happened often enough, that it probably imprinted itself on my mind. Saturday mornings my parents would take me along, and do the rounds of Woodwards Department store, the buthcher and bakery. Upon getting home, Sargent our German Shepard would happily greet us with tail a wagging. While lunch was made, and dad did some of the outside chores, I would play with Sargent, who was my best buddy back then. Wherever I went, he was beside me, the faithful sidekick. After lunch I would take my Thimbul coookies, homemade by mom, and either eat them in the back yard, or some quiet spot in the house. Sargent of course was beside me, and what little super hero would deny his partner in keeping his world safe, a just share in the rewards. So it was a regular occurence, of my getting caught with my hands on the cookies, in the act of handing one to Sargent.

keiththegreen

The ‘Innocent’ of Childhood

The Innocent. As a character type—what Jung or Hillman call an Archetype—the Innocent is most often a child. Since we have all experienced, to a greater or lesser extent, the innocence of being a child, then we each carry this Archetype of the Innocent Child within us.

In Life Mapping I coach people to identify and name their Life Chapters leading up to the Present.  Almost always, people name their earliest Life Chapter as something on the order of “Innocence”: a time of relative calm and joy preceding the Storms of life.

By a random review of a set of 9 Life Maps, 7 of their first Life Chapter titles reflect an innocence theme: “Innocence”(2); “Childhood & Youth” (2); “”Well Loved/ Happy”; “Pure Joy”; and “Oblivion”. The other two, I should note, refer to situations involving childhood trauma or abuse.

What was your earliest Life Chapter? To identify it, first think about your earliest major, pivotal life event, before and after which you feel that you were “not the same person”. Then think about the time of your life BEFORE that, between your birth and that first major turning point. As the author of your own Life Story, what title would you use to describe your early childhood?

If your first Life Chapter was not so bright and Innocent, how did that eventually get resolved, if it has been? Is there an Innocent you that was suppressed then?

If your early childhood was a time of relative Innocence (or if you can identify within yourself that archetype-Child who was suppressed), can you feel that Child archetype within you Now? What is she or he like? What does s/he–that part of you–love? How do you like to play, as your Innocent Child? Who is/was your BFF?

How can you best listen to, hear, and nurture your Innocent Child archetype today? Let him or her be a part of your conscious persona, because s/he is there regardless.

To be in better contact with your Innocent Child part-of-self, you might try DOING something you enjoyed most as that Child. Climb a tree? Go to a petting zoo? Sing a lullaby that your Mom or Grandmother once sang to you?

You can even write a dialogue in your journal—or have an active imagination encounter—between your Adult self today and your Innocent Child within you. I invite you to open your Heart to this inner part of yourself. You might be amazed—and even amused—by all s/he can show you!

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I invite you–as Innocent Child or adult!–to share your insights or story.

And always, Better Endings to You!