Sparks in Wisdom's Fire: wonder

Showing posts with label wonder. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

in the messiness

Surrender into life, be in the messiness, live within the wonder — that is all, that is enough

Sometimes we run so fast — away from or toward, who knows? — that we don’t notice the slippery mud that splatters our shoes. Maybe we even think, “If I stop, I will be sucked into this quagmire.” Or, “I’m almost there, I can’t stop now.” We run and run until we drop from exhaustion right into that slimy quagmire that we feared.

Now what? Well, we can no longer ignore our circumstances. So, we stop. Survey the landscape. Maybe point out the positives, you know, those things that we like. At some point we realize that in order to avoid falling into the messiness, we’ve got to do something. That something is to realize that while we do need to identify what is going on, we don’t have to like where we find our self.

What do we do with what we know?

Be in the messiness

Seldom can we say, “I am done with this mess. I am starting anew.” First we need to be in the messiness. Unless we resolve the mess, it follows us. If we ignore it, the mess grows into yet a bigger monster. So, be in the messiness no matter what is happening.

You don’t have to like your current situation. That is a given. Accept that within the messiness are gems — challenges to meet and lessons to learn. The messiness invites us to be this courageous warrior that braves the messy not to slay dragons but to befriend them. Once befriended, we use the dragon’s strength to bolster our own as we surrender into the messiness.

Surrender into the life

Surrender is not an act of giving up. By surrendering, we objectively enter the tangle of the quagmire. We witness what has us in knots and what is unraveling. We see how we slip through some loosened knots and what needs to be untangled a little bit more. All the time we breathe into the moment. Find our calm. Find the courage and the strength to work our way out of the messiness.

The more we surrender, the easier it is to see what calls us out of the messiness. We become part of the magic energy of transformation! That magic energy is the wonder threaded through the messiness.

Live within the wonder that is your life

Messiness does not exist in a vacuum. Where there is messiness, there is wonder. Sometimes we have to dig deep to find the wonder tangled in the threads of messy. Trust me, it is there. Sometimes this discovery means asking yourself where the wonder is and then holding on to those morsels of hope. No matter how difficult the situation, the light of ourself — when we believe in our self— glints off of challenges and brings us through the other side.

Hoping you find the wonder during your time in the messy!

Van Hurst, ms, is an intuitive-coach-catalyst. As a contemplative coach, she uses mindfulness practices and intuition tools to create strategies for navigating the mundane and extraordinary. The result of time with Van? Being the change you want to see in the world by creating a blueprint for your life through a deeper connection to your intuition and contemplative nature.

Van is a professional speaker & author who weaves inner wisdom into all she touches. Her books are available @ www.wildefyrpress.com. Her most recent book, As Natural As Breathing: Being Intuitive, is available on Amazon. Contact Vanessa for life coaching, intuitive consultations, keynotes, and programs.

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Oh Those Scary Places!

The world is this magical, wondrous, uncertain place. Sometimes I grapple for the words that will make the world a little less uncertain, a bit more harmonious, somewhat more in alignment with who I am. Then I realize that this world is a magical, mysterious uncertain place that I am meant to navigate with fierce courage.

Yes, the world is devastatingly uncertain. That can be scary. Don’t we all want some certainty in our life? I know that I do. What’s that saying? Oh, yeah: the only things certain are death and taxes. True or not, we want so much more to be certain while never realizing that life is meant to be lived courageously within the cracks of uncertainty.

What are within those cracks of uncertainty? Drawer nearer. Listen closely. Seeping through those crevices are our hope, our dreams — the very essence of life.

It’s in the navigating of uncertainty, the rising to the inherent challenges, that is so fulfilling. We can dive fiercely into those cracks and discover what is hidden in the crevices OR we can timidly squeeze our eyes shut refusing to go into those places that scare us.

Oh these scary places! If you are like me, you’ve spent a lot of time with eyes scrunched tightly shut followed by moments of lamentation. “How much opportunity did I miss?” & “Could that opportunity have been the BIG one?” When we don’t glide through those cracks of uncertainty, we cannot know for certain those answers.

Because we did not take the leap into the chasm of uncertainty, we weren’t able to discover the shimmer of hope, the mystery of our potential, the magic of possibility. We could not follow the iridescent threads leading to dreams sparked by the essence of our life.

How do we meet challenges? By showing up fiercely, wildly courageous? Acknowledge the uncertainty. Own the fear. Actively question where the opportunity is. Even if you cannot identify the uncertainty, the fear, the possibility, know that they are present. Know that opportunity doesn’t always manifest on our timeline. It happens when we intentionally listen to our intuition and respond to what is said.

Be mindful. Possibility rises up in the most inopportune moments. Our intuition is a trickster. It wants to see if we are truly listening, paying attention. All we can do is trust that within us is the knowing to guide us through the magical wonder of uncertainty and into the possibility of living with purpose. And, that we are prepared to listen to its guidance.

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Day Comes with Fierce Opportunity

wonder slips across the horizon, hope streaks across the sky igniting the fierce courageous sparks slumbering in your core

Day comes

The sky streaks with color. Day comes with a fierce freshness. What will this day bring? Who knows? One thing is certain: there will be a surprise or two! Surprise…good, bad, indifferent. No matter how you define it, within each surprise is a time of celebration, a time to grow, a time to breathe in the essence of your soul.

Wonder slips across the horizon

The day breaks with an acknowledgement of the wonder slipping across the horizon. In that moment between night and dawn pulses mystery, magic, momentum. The shadows elongate and then dissipate. Their waxing and waning is an invitation to become the brilliant light that peers into them discerning the wisdom within.

Hope streaks across the sky

Wisdom births hope. Our inner knowing expands within the dissipating shadows as hope streaks across the sky. Who could not be hopeful as the sky shifts from dark to a myriad of streaky colors? How could I/you/anyone not feel hope within the coming dawn?

But hope is fleeting. Within the impermanence is the power to trigger our courage — it propels us to try one more thing, to act in ways that manifest our dreams. Yeah, hope can raise us to heights we never knew we could soar to.

An ignition of fierce courageous spark

Fierce courageous spark…that is me, that is you! What does that look like? Feel like? Fierce courage invites us into objective observer mode. Fierce courage isn’t about rushing in. No, this is the courage that asks what we want and demands an answer. It encourages us to travel into the margins, to take that long contemplative look, to breath deeply, and to identify what leads us through hope into the realization of our dreams.

Sparks slumbering in your core

Day is coming. None of us need to slumber through it. It’s time to wake up, breathe deeply of the wonder, feel hope as it streaks across the sky. It’s time to wake up to the courage pulsing through you. This courage commands you to show up and be exactly who you are.

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

a time of wonder, a time of despair

As I look at the world around me, I am aware of life’s fragility. We live in a time of wonder, a time of despair. Personal loss. Community loss. National loss. Global loss. Within the loss I sense a void that is a vessel of opportunity.

That void? It won’t stay empty for long. When we are unaware all sorts of things sneak in to the empty! As individuals, we cannot choose how communal vessels will be filled — that takes a community of commitment. We can choose how we fill those empty spaces within our self.

How do we fill those spot? This is not a plea for shopping therapy. It is an invitation to fill those spaces from the depth of your being. This is not a task for the faint hearted! In order to fill those spaces we must decide how and even if they should be filled.

To decide to fill or not to fill, we become an explorer of places that unsettle us. We journey into the shadow spaces of our self to better understand the ghosts that linger in them. We discern how those shadows reflect our being.

Not all empty spaces need to be cleared or even filled. When we attend to them, we discovers that some are already brimming with that which we cannot quite identify — mystery, magic, the tendrils of connection to the sacred, the energy that powers us through the unknown into an understanding of who we are.

Unless we focus our awareness, we cannot sense what is pulsing within. The mystery, the magic only makes itself known when we calm and center our self.

Other shadow places are filled with dust bunnies of the past and shards of things we cling. While these spaces may appear empty, they need a good cleaning — a feng shui of our soul. In this clearing we make room for what gives our life meaning.

That clearing happens by surrendering into those spaces that scare us. We recognize the ghosts that we have fed for so long and make peace with their angst. We gently yet firmly bid farewell to what we cling to. Space empty, we decide what we place within. That decision is a great challenge.

Whatever we place inside those empty spaces is what we reflect into the world. What do I place within? I want to reflect empathy, compassion, fortitude, courage, gentle listening, a desire to be heard and to listen.

I think that maybe that if I can show up shining my truth, I will be better able to live in this uncertainty and serve as a guiding light that brings others home to themselves. Maybe if you can show up as genuine you, you will do the same.

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Who Are You?

Have you ever asked yourself, “Who am I? If you are like me, you’ve asked yourself this question a time or a thousand. This is not a one and done kind of question. No, it is meant to be reflected upon over and over again as you discover yourself anew. It’s the curiosity of how my perception has shifted that has me answering this question over and over again.

The answers are found not in the roles we play, but in the roots growing deeply into our core. That which twines throughout our being and manifests in how we act. It’s from our roots that the evolution of our answer flows!

How do we discover the me in the moment?

Breath Deep of Your Essence

This is more than a physical breath. It is moving past the barriers, the illusions, the stuff of who you are not into seeing who you are — the bright and the shadows. You do not have to like what is exposed. It is in the owning of who you are that opens you to growth.

Breathe deep of this essence. Notice the fear and the joy that rides on the breath of this acknowledgement. Awaken the courage to be the you that grows from the roots twining into your core.

Awaken the Courage at Your Core

Life is filled with this incredible kaleidoscope of emotions. Some uplift; others have you running for the nearest refuge. All these emotions are unapologetically you. You can bask in the joy, the happy, the wonder. You can run from that which scares us. What I have realized is that no matter how long, no matter how fast I run, I cannot give my shadow the slip. It paces me.

In time, you either meet your shadow with courage or it wears your down. I, for one, would like to meet my shadow with courage because far too many times it has worn me into fatigue. Take a deep breath of courage, enter the shadow, and look into the eyes of fear. This is the way of through. On this journey you discover the wonder of who you are.

Share Your Wonder with the World

Fears confronted, name one thing that is your wonder. It can be anything about you — small, huge, somewhere in-between. Decide how you will share this wonder with the world. Don’t discount any action, word, or thought that changes you for the better — they are all part of the sharing. For those things light your courage and gainssss the potential to transform both you and the world as you know it.

Breathe deep of your essence, awaken the courage at your core, share you wonder with the world. That is all. That is your enough.