Dear Reader:
I’m inclined to believe that we live (and love) on, in one form or another. And that we carry an encoded path within us. How else can I explain the remarkably synchronistic events of my life? The visitors from beyond that returned to comfort me right after they died? My entirely accurate early-life clarity as to my life’s path? The truth chills I experienced when I encountered someone fundamental to my growth? The truth aches I experienced when I ventured off path? The gifts that wouldn’t let me sleep at night until they were opened? The callings that refused to die until they were actualized? How else can I understand the seeing of events before they occurred, and the familiar feelings of déjà vu when they finally did? How else can I explain the majesty of this human life and the Earth that houses it, if it is not part of something far vaster in meaning and directionality than the myopic story we have been sold?
Imagine what would happen to the marketing world if we came to believe that we had other lifetimes to buy what they are trying to sell. No need to buy that fancy car just now. I may do fancy car next lifetime. No need for that suburban lifestyle. I may outgrow that need in a lifetime or two. No need for much of anything, other than those lived experiences that honor my soul’s code for this lifetime.
When I try to imagine this life as a one-off, none of it really makes sense. All this majesty for only eighty or so years? All of these gifts, callings, and offerings swirling through me for just one go round? All this hunger for adventure and lust for life, time limited? Or is it all a sign that this goes on (and on…)? A lighthouse of possibility that awaits our readiness? A glimpse of wholeness that call us home, one incarnation after another? And that somewhere at the heart of it are the people (and the animals) that have been selected—on one soulular level or another—to walk right beside us.
I like what Susan Frybort has to say in this wonderful piece from her book, Look to the Clearing:
NO ONE EVER TOLD ME (Of the Glory of Growing Older)
No one told me it would be like this—
how growing older is another passage of discovery
and that aging is one grand transformation,
and if some things become torn apart or even lost along the way,
many other means show up to bring me closer to the center of my heart.
No one ever told me if whatever wonder waits ahead
is in another realm and outside of time.
But the amazement, I found, is that the disconcerting things within the here and now
that I stumble and trip my way through,
also lead me gracefully home.
And no one told me that I would ever see
an earth so strong and fragile,
or a world so sad and beautiful.
And I surely didn't know
I'd have all this life yet in me or such fire inside my bones.
If you have space in the coming weeks, perhaps spend some time reflecting on your own view of this question. Not from the perspective of religious teachings, but from the perpective of your lived experience: Do you have experiential evidence that your soul is traveling through lifetimes? Have you had experiences that confirm the idea that your soul came into this lifetime with an encoded path—a sacred purpose—that is fundamental to your incarnation? Or have you had experiences that confirm that this incarnation is the end of your story?
*************************************************
WRITING YOUR WAY HOME BEGINS FEBRUARY 6TH!
One of the ways that I have excavated and honored my sacred purpose in this lifetime is through writing. It’s not everyone’s path, but it is truly, gladly, deeply part of mine. That’s not to say that it was ready to be lived at any time. I did try to write at a younger age, but I just wasn’t ready. I still had a lot to learn. When you step on the right path at the wrong time, you have stepped on the wrong path. Timing is everything.
If the timing works for you, feel free to join in next week as I begin my next ‘Writing Your Way Home’ course at Soulshaping Institute. Join us as we write our way through these challenging times, and explore writing as an expressive and healing practice. This six-week-course is energizing, inspiring, and affordable. It is helpful for anyone who wants to become a better writer, and also for those who don't care about developing their writing skills, but write to connect, empower, and find their true voice. So many of us were shamed and discouraged from expressing ourselves throughout our lives. This course creates a safe and encouraging space where you can finally bring your voice fully to the surface. It gives you what you need to liberate your feelings and put them to words. If interested, check it out here...