I wrote my first blog post on 9th January this year. The intention was to write one a week for the year but it seems that I rather ran out of steam after my post about the ‘Art of Dying’ in October!  I have realised that the cessation of writing coincided with the commencement of my pro bono coaching. It would seem that the energy which went into writing was redirected towards the lives of the seven lovely women who were willing to share with me since the start of November. My course is rapidly coming to an end and will require a 2,500 word report to be submitted mid-January. So back to writing!  As I reflect it has been the most wonderful experience.  I know that many people feel that the lockdowns and restrictions have robbed them of a year, but this has not been my experience. I feel I have been pushed to explore more deeply and have tasted a slightly different way of being in the world. 

There are so many things which we know to be true and yet often we question them if the objective evidence seems to be lacking. Perhaps top of that list might be the notion of ‘God’.  We want to put so much faith in science and material knowing, yet  much of what we might feel we are now ‘discovering’ through psychology and neuroscience has been known intuitively or through various religious and spiritual traditions for centuries.  We are told that singing and being in nature are good for us as science can now show the effect on our levels of dopamine or the reduction of stress hormones. But we know through direct experience that these things are beneficial. Does the science now make it more true?  I am not knocking science, it can lead to amazing discoveries and can improve our lives considerably. However, I am saying that it is important to trust our own experience and our own knowing and not always seek outside for evidence, solutions or validation.

 

When you rest in the silence and move out of head into heart there is a vast spaciousness. It might be labelled the transpersonal but in the end any word falls short. It is the mystery at our core, the deep knowing, the Now, the potential for what might yet be born or created, the Divine, peace, love, the Tao, God.  Choose your own word, none can capture the whole of it.  It does not require belief because it is known directly. Just pondering the  reality of your own temporary existence in this amazing world is enough to blow your mind! 

Christmas emerges from the dark and the silence. A baby in a shabby corner of the Middle East bringing the message that in the depths of this silence there is love. Even in the depths of pain and despair there is love. Even when we cannot feel it it is there, rather like the sun covered with clouds. We are loved. When we share love with other people, with animals, with nature, in the tasks we carry out, we are being the fullest expression of ourselves. It is not something to believe in, but something to know.

I suspect this is my last blog post, at least for this year. Next year might see a web site!  Thank you for reading my ramblings and may you experience every blessing in the coming year.