Anchors Series - Anchors [1]
Anchors In The Context Of Know Thy-Self Refers To Those Daily Routines Where One Consciously Connects With Self. For most of my life, I was unaware that routines could provide a support structure. Their absence in my life partly related to a decision made in my youth - "routines were boring". What I was seeing around me that gave rise to that decision, lies in the whispers of the past for I know not. My natural instincts however are for variety and I work best when I have multiple projects on the go. Did I see routine as doing the same thing at the same time as restricting my freedom? I expect so for I feel the effects of restriction in even thinking about doing the same thing at the same time every day. Aha…
Now thats an interesting insight into who I am. Restrictions are an anathema to my freedom loving independent self. Thus having unilaterally dismissed routines, I had inadvertently dismissed my personal support structure. It was many years later that routines came to my attention. Likewise at the same time I also became aware of the impact of language and the way language is used detrimentally in respect of women. I gave new meaning to a number of words including replacing the word routine with rituals. A more affirming and delightful turn of phrase don’t your think? It brings back echo’s of the past when the practice of ritual was a way of connecting with nature’s bounties.
As one of those highly sensitive souls, my emotions have dominated my experience of my life. I was unable to break free of them for the lack of knowing that I could. Stewing is a time waster, hence feeling that I have done little with my life, spending a disproportionate amount of time trying to find a footing that in an instant was lost. Unaware of the meaning of my life experiences the ‘message’ became stronger and the themes louder, until I was stopped in my tracks with chronic fatigue. Having paused long enough to discover that chronic fatigue was about ‘not giving time to self’, I resumed my previous trajectory. But my soul was insistent that I wake up and presented me with another life defining moment. The benefits of rituals thus made their presence known to me. They became my salve.
Rituals provide you with anchors that when engaged with daily, deepen our relationship as between self and self. They assist in strengthening our resolve, reminding us of what is important. They are the means of creation, for giving ongoing attention to what is important in our lives, creates our reality. It’s simple physics. Everything is energy and giving energy to supporting one’s inner self seems a sensible practice to me. And yes, underneath all that we are in the present moment is the culmination of where we previously directed our focus (energy) and the beliefs we have formed about ourselves, both conscious and unconscious. Rituals are not a ‘fix’. There is no quick fix for anything - anything worthwhile that is. Establishing rituals in your life is though a gentle way of bringing about new experiences. They are a way of honouring self - giving time to what matters most - your inner world which is the source of personal support for all that you wish to create in the outer world.
Daily rituals remind us that we are in control of our own lives. We are the directors and managers of our experiences. Such that I now employ daily rituals - deliberately. I also use rituals as a salve when my focus is interrupted from some left-field encounter which results in an emotional response as between conscious and unconscious self. Both are equally important - imperative really to take control of your life as only you can.
Date: November 26 2019
Authoress: Carol Lorraine
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so …
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1 www.goodreads.com/quotes
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