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“Don't seek for love at journey's end. Seek love where your journey begins.”
— Mickie Kent
Those new to a more awakened lifestyle might suddenly realise that the mind-body-spirit thing actually begins with feeding yourself (and those you love) honest-to-goodness nourishment in every way possible.
And it's not just about food. Or keeping fit. It doesn't have to incorporate spiritual based stretching or mindful breathing. You don't have to be a yogini to eat healthily, be flexible or become enlightened to the truth of who you are.
Your true self is always there. It's as close to you as your natural breath, and often just as ignored. Once we have become attentive to the presence of this true self, then all we really need do is resolutely chip away whatever is not divine in ourselves.
Usually that will be what has poured into us from our environment, and which we in turn have leaked out to others. But although it's true we live in muddied waters, we have cleansing springs inside us: oases in which we can dip to rub off the grime of daily living.
We just have to seek them out and know how to find them. It's all about going back. Back inside. Back to the beginning. Back home. Back to the light, to our roots. But here's the cold shower moment. It's just not always possible.
Unless we approach life in a peaceful way, becoming cleansed will forever be out of our reach. Gossipy, angry, complaining and negative attitudes are best left behind. Instead, being gentle in voice, movement, actions, thought and attitude respects those who come into your life, and fosters a safe, uplifting, truthful environment.
Hopefully, this gentle way of approaching and being will dissipate negativity not only during your day but in all other areas of life as well. Imagine how discouraging the current state of affairs must be for the next generation. Particularly in terms of the deeply-polarised nature of our present political culture in developed and developing countries.
Yet, despite the many challenges that lie before us, in looking out towards the future, sometimes we need to take a step back peaceably. To observe. To understand. Sometimes to watch and learn. To accept that our societies and what they have to say will not always be about the good in us or bring out the best in us.
We have carried out the most cruel and unusual experiments on each other, invented conspiracy theories to feed into our paranoias, often churning our brains up into such a state that we have difficulty separating fantasy and reality, or appreciating the serious over the sensational.
Our relationship with the consumption of media, and how social media and TV has come to totally infect our lives, says much about that. Making history by landing a spacecraft on a comet for the first time ever, but at the same time being far too distracted by Kim Kardashian's glistening posterior to be aware of this monumental occasion is one such example.
But there are many more. Another is wealth creation. Create wealth for value but not as a reason to value yourself. Don't let accumulation in monetary, position or career circles pigeon-hole you into a crisis of identity. Rather than seeking your sense of self in the external world, prey to the fashions and whims of others, you should be seeking it from inside.
We waste our precious moments with viscid visuals and status symbols, not realising they act as shutters, neither allowing us to look outward or within. As a momentary distraction, it does no harm. But if we are to awaken ourselves to our self, and harness its potential energy, then we need to focus on what is within, and how it influences without.
We can all aspire to be driven, composed, humble, impeccably spoken people who live for something greater than themselves, because we have that potential. At any age. We can all focus on providing value to the world, and not our egos. To act and react from our spirit and not superficial cynicism. To delight in our struggles.
Similar to the sci-fi films we enjoy: the best dystopian tales are always focused more on the heights the human spirit can reach than the depths to which it can sink. It mirrors the best of what we are: an uplifting, morally complex story that we can learn from.
From relearning the basics to navigating our dreams, the power of possibility is in all of us. Both the door that opens to it and the key which unlocks it: the quest to find them brings you closer to an inherent wisdom.
That whether your outer search be for a better life - to detox from the junk of the past, to lose weight, or lose your bad friends - really the inner search is for the real you. And that search is really about love.
And the love you seek will be where every journey begins and ends: inside you.
Yours in love,
