wereachingthesummit-blog

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Re-birth

Starting over if that’s what you want to call it! A grace that pervades life to issue a new lease, that is all found in the power of letting go. Re-birth is recognizing that rewiring your being to your own truth apart from acquired knowledge yields what is termed daily miracles. I write on a new page, in remembrance of all the pain and having managed to let go of it all but the lessons; the re-birth is a notion that life is beautiful when you notice the small aspects that makes part of the tapestry beautiful. Re-birth is not having it all figured out but a wonder at the beauty of all that is around you, the fact that you healed from trauma or whatever ailed you and didn’t break you. Re-birth is allowing the beauty of vulnerability to permeate your being, it is the story of a gladiator putting down all his weapons in surrender to life herself. It is the gladiator taking one last breath and realizing he/she has won without effort. Re-birth is not a battle against another but mental blocks that are of effect to your reality and your experience. Amen, a word they tell me it means so be it! Let the breath of fresh air be in your experience. Resistance is futile, re-birth is fluidity in your experience on the material plane or otherwise. Re-birth is not a new chapter but a completely new book all together, let grace pervade your being and experience a new dynamic that is yours and not subject to a narrative of another. This narrative is respectful, kind, jovial, prosperous in all dynamics of your being. This is my experience in what they call letting go! This is the Re-birth.

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Kintsugi For a very longtime I have wanted to write and assimilate my experiences to a Japanese philosophy in ceramics and pottery that relates to how gold, silver and other precious metals can be used in the mending what we traditionally call broken ceramics or pottery. The point of interest to me was when artists intepret broken as subjective or as a means to achieve Kintsugi. My intepretation has therefore become one distant from the artistry but related to the nature of our perspective of broken. Christian mystics, some believed broken is, with regards to their practice a prequisite for initiation into higher levels of mysticism of course all this relation to ego. Kintsugi if intepreted correctly is, not brokeness but a prerequisite for art to take a form, new or secondary. My interest in the concept relates to what I will describe as rites of passage life imposes on us. A willingness to learn and accept our knowledge is not the ultimate, be willing to shape our perspective through new experiences, learn and observation. Kintsugi is not this learning but realizing our TRUTH independent from all the external forces. I have in times past wrote and lived the experiences around authentic living, but I cannot lie and say completely but at times lost my way because in modern times a lot of opinions seemingly convincing in myraid forms such as motivational speakers, internet quotes tend to tell us what our truth ought to be, feel like, look like. In such moments we disconnect from our truth and we strive, to live up to these supossed norms and we break from different perspectives. Kintsugi is unlearning other people’s truth and returning to that unwavering centre of our being independent of striving and all things of that nature. It may be part of your journey to strive but Kinstugi is realizing you’re complete and if you were pottery living within your truth is kintsugi. I will not by intellectual debate or argue this is easy in practice because it is not, It is the process of refining your living with “precious earth metals” to become or return to being that unfamiliar yet still sense of being that you do not strive with or against. Kinstugi is remembering your truth is your truth, yet the truth is absolute. Kinstugi is making your own foot prints on the sea side not walking in the ones you found there because they seem familiar. Kinstugi is therefore many things but by no means should it be confused with fingers pointing to the moon for the moon itself because it is not. Kintsugi is becoming the pottery and the potter... image by: Regiane Tossati

#kintsugi

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Weird dream, Yeah? There is several medical reasons why they happen and what they mean but this is not medical advice or a diagnosis on their meaning but a lapse in judgment. A lapse in judgment is a reversal in occurance/events and frames that would teach us to suspend our judgement where others are concerned and practice kindness because it is an essential aspect of life. I respect religious choices made by each one of us as individuals but we have to learn to lapse our judgments or complexities where others are concerned.For me this lesson came through dreams and on understanding, letting go the process of judgments, I found my freedom because even though in times past I would not be an open critic I would think of it. You see being a mental critics to circumstances and keeping quiet about them does not mean we are not a critic, I learnt through dreams and when we lapse in judgments either confrontational or mental a burden in us lifts off because we stop focusing on being perfect but allow ourselves to heal the complexities of judgment. I would possibly in an unsual frame of reference would establish that passing judgment is an illness of sorts, again this is not medical or professional opinion but just a frame of reference. What most people don’t realize is that passing judgements is a costly process either emotionally, physicall or mentally because it switches off our focus on living life in high definition to replaying, reframing and analysis of old, often obsolete events that at times didn’t even happen the way we think of them. A lapse in judgment is a clearance of a certain kind of negativity, it is liberation from judgment, reclaiming our humanity and understanding our impeferction even if we believe otherwise. A lapse in judgement is a welcome statement to stop vying for perfection and simply enjoy ourselves, enjoy being and learn from where we err. A lapse in judgment is not medical opinion or a professional diagnosis it is an invitation to not try out happiness, personify it, potray it but become it not for the other but for self because community will be better off for it. A lapse in judgment is an invitation for the poet who would recite an ode to excellence in the rain without concern of how it will be perceived or the after thought, because in that moment they experience a lapse in judgment. A lapse in judgment is not a philosopy, a truth or the claimed way of life but an engagement on being, it is a perspective. A lapse in judgment is choosing to unburden oneself of taxation mentally, emotionally and physically of unworthwhile analysis. It is a reminder, an alternative to moral high ground, or the proverbial high horse, it is remembering to be true to thyself because you may not know the Godliness in it thereof. A lapse in judgement.

#lapse #judgment #perspective #being #zen #philosophy #natural light

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The Theory Of self-loving In my learning to approve of myself and practice self-loving as some would call it , I decided to start hiking as it has been a hobby of mine that I find comforting in ways I won’t explain here. So I have met people that love themselves in a way that may be mistaken for narcissism. I myself have began practising deeply the art of self-loving to a degree that I find intimidating at times as I question my own motive. So self loving, is not disregarding other people and putting you first as some would assume as a default, it is many things depending on the individual you may ask. In my experience for me it has been the proverbial lighting a path for the hopeful, for a friend of mine it is her playing a guide to those who need nurturing in whatever form that is not taxing on her energy. Self-loving is a lot of things, I doubt no individual has it clearly figured out to a degree they can tell you how to do it correctly, doing you is also self-loving, disregarding the religious philosophy that tells you how to get by is also self-love for the rebel. Self loving, is today I begin with laughter, self-loving is I choose art, self-loving is I will date a person who is aware of themselves and their contribution to the world because I love and value myself. Self-love is not what the next person, that book or a famous person posts on instagram, it is what you say it is. The reason why self-loving is important is because, we need as a people to know that sometimes we hurt because of various reasons, real, imaginary or ingrained via social conditioning its all semantics, we need a touch or dose of gentleness. Self-loving is, remembering the divinity in you, self-loving is staying grounded in your truth not what is expected from you by onlookers or societal expectations. It takes courage and rebellion of mind to self-love otherwise you will fall victim to those that will convince you that you are not enough or those that tell you what self-love is and shift the goal posts as you draw close to the mark. So when I go hiking along a new trail a form of self-love occurs, even with my hiking partner present, I feel alleviated of the pressures of life and focus purely on the breath of fresh air, the scenery, finish the course regardless of time, finding the course without assistive technology. I find solace in this weird activity but that is a form of self-loving if you ask me. Another I practice with my students is, I start the day with (insert your word of the day) mine for today is laughter, a reminder to laugh, So I say thank you (saying the things I’m thankful for and repeating thank you before each item) I go through the day in reflection of these words and it has become a meditation towards self-loving. Self-loving is a lot of things and only you decide what it is , the moment you do not recognize what it is and dependant on the other person for validation it is no longer self love, choose and start today with thank you for allowing me to love myself.

#embrace #love care self-love

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The emotional experience

So you see emotion is a great driver of the human experience. The unfortunate in the modern day is the unwillingness to feel emotion deeply, whether negative or positive, steroetypes that assert an emotional man is weak or that a woman who is emotional allows herself to have people walk all over them. I will not get into the semantics, predefined gender roles amongst others because of a myraid of reasons, the point I am trying to get across is that those who expereince the full human expereience their expereince is embodied by emotion, allowing themselves to feel deeply in their being, and with this they’re able to live live in deeper and more meaningful experience because they’re not an emotional brickwall toughing it out to exist they truly live. An explanantion on what emotion is is neither here no there, the driver of this conversation is allow yourself to feel everything deeply in all its form and direction. This gives perspective, I mean I encountered a man who would say one would have to learn to be true to themselves before learning to be true to God/ the Divine or a Deity. Where did this reasoning come from I would ask, the response is how would you be true to the Divine if you don’t experience emotion and be true to it. So the Divine according to the man I would ask this is to be expereinced just as emotion and be mindful he did not say be driven into irrationality by emotion. He stated allowing one to feel deeply would allow them to expereince deeply even the Divine. In summary emotion in its true form opens one to complex and yet beautiful human experiences in depth, allow them to feel and be.

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The Day I lived Intentionally!

I had since found myself questioning the importance of preparedness, I mean I read somwhere that we forget to live in this present moment, forget to live because we are concerned about tomorrow or we are still reflecting on what happened yesterday. Yesterday and tomorrow are perspectives that used to affect how I live or hinder the possibility of enjoying what happens now, forgeting to celebrate the small victories, affected my perception of the present to the point where I would be frowning always. Reflecting on life lessons, I met a friend who is and was of the notion that in order to enjoy your day fully and life in general stop collecting too much tomorrows and hoarding on yesterdays. This statement simply put was affirming that one should live with purpose and intention from moment to moment as it was and is a way of enjoying the gift of life for what it is. Speaking to this friend he would remark how his day is organized and not busy but productive because it started with intention, what intention? firstly he would listen to jazz for an hour, say his prayers and read a chapter from a current read at a time this is all before reading emails, picking up his phone to read up texts. This process followed by writing a chapter for his blog, and putting to paper his daily agenda so that his day would not be filled with moving from point to point, person to person and agenda to agenda. This is a discpline that takes time, energy and practice much like meditation as you can see it is a complex process that requires patience for one to master. Why would I tell this story? You may ask. In a previous chapter entitled: When young lions need rest, as the title suggests the need to be able to recognize when one needs to replenish themselves with love, rest so their mind and spirit are in alignment with their body as to allow themselves to be at their best. Most times we miss, live and we are merely existing because our days are marked by disorder, moving from agenda to agenda without intention and we get excited by the possibility of tommorow, hoarding what is to come. Reflect, from the past year that you may have been a victim of choosing to live without intention. This comes across as a theory but choosing to live with intention sets forth your energy in a guided path where you do not expend it on un-meaningful things. So intention as I have learnt in my personal space, shared space that it is an imperative, people are also able to recognize consciously or otherwise people that live with intention. Now intention is many things for many people subjective to their personal experience, happiness, joy, peace, abundance or accomplishment amongst others. This is life not wasted because intention in channelling your life towards people, things and experiences that are meaningful, this in itself results in a fulfilling life. As I learnt from my friend to set forth intention as a starting point to my day on a daily basis, I no longer leave the house empty. I start my day by dedicating my time to things that matter therefore intentionally fill myself with love, and don’t return home empty either because my intention was set forth before going out. This practice is a form of meditation for me that ensures I return home energized as I left not drained, tired or over worked because I choose meaningful experiences and set forth the intention before starting the day. This is a practice that one can learn and it will bear fruit, I tried yoga before and failed because I had not realized before attending the class that having an intention to do yoga would result in fruitfulness much like your approach to life. Set forth your day to live with intention.

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When eagles step out of the storm

So this life is like clay, I remarked to a friend of mine and she starred with a puzzled look on her face. I mean we are the clay and the potter at the same time. So we choose perspective and how we experience a reality and this notion is not some random philosophical sounds deep statement but a truth within itself which is yet to be experienced in a deep and conscious way as we take a deep breath in moments of happiness and feel life itself. What are you thinking this very moment, where you aware prior to reading this statement ? Ayurveda has over time emphasized elements that relate to breath and well being, but wait what does that have to do with the point I am trying to get across? Breath is an instrument of awareness just as thoughts are an unconscious instrument of creation. Now that all these random notions are out of the way I will detail another one of my episodes with depression from a particular day within the three years I had chronic depression. This is not by clinical standards even though medical professionals would assert it to be so. One bright sunny day, random negative thought pevading my conscious mind and that voice over, yes that one in your mind right now labelling and commenting on everything you see. Hey guy, does he know who I am, who does she think she is speaking to. Now that I got your attention the issue at hand is habits, thoughts are formations like if the potter never stop to prepare their clay properly it will have lumps, dry clay particles that affect the quality of the pottery without even mentioning that the potter may be highly skilled. Aryuveda and the breath again, you see how those analogies fit the context of your mind, thought patterns and the net result being your experience. Depression is now easy to conceive how it occurred in my experience. With relation to my experience it was with the things I chose to give my energy to, focus my mind on and the people I would let in my space that would dictate what I think, feel and react as it was most of the time being in a space to react and not be aware of life itself. The day I started focusing on what to allow in my experiences, who to allow in my space and the things I paid attention to my perspective started to evolve from a negative one to that of loving myself and therefore choosing like the potter who first learns how to prepare his clay properly before he learns how to mold the clay masterfully. Depression like the skies clearing up, became a reality. This is not shifting the blame of how I felt to external factors but how choosing to take charge of the things I was aware of affected the reality of what I was not aware of and that in turn become the basis of my experience and reality. Do you see the noion of breath as an instrument in the same notion of mental patterns and how depression pervades our being? Aryuveda, the potter’s craft and clinical observation of depression is all the pieces seemingly unrelated I had to go through to undertand a simple notion of be weary what you allow into you awareness because it affects what happens outside that conscious awareness.

#weary #eagles love soaring storms rise stepout

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Interlude: On Reaching The Summit

On account of intellectualism, religion and so forth we go through this life searching for meaning and validation and the tragic aspect of that path is that we often spend most of that time looking externally for validation, our own truth in books, stories, esoteric sciences and in that moment we forget to live and take a deep breath while we remind ourselves to just be. I spent a large influx of my time looking into books, sciences religion for validation and I cannot say it was a fruitless endeavour but the only truth I ever found in all the books and research while seeking validation for my existence came to one simple point a question that “what if you’re the saviour you have been looking for” bold and almost an appalling remark to make in the midst of the religious folk and in all honesty that is my truth the simple and single truth I acknowledge in all my existence a simple statement. Living and the reason for “Reaching the summit” is personifying that realization with a mountaineer documenting his journey to summiting a peak, but in this revelation, pages documenting how elements such as grief, cognitive dissonance, happiness have become the true elements that in this life-time act as guardians of our truth that we lose much of ourselves in search of ourselves in the external terrains of this world in one life-time only for the fortunate few before that chapter comes to an end can they ask themselves and understand that nowhere in this life can they find the answer to that questions that tortures many even on an emotional or subconscious level trying to find themselves by identifying with things and elements they found already upon arriving on this planet. A truthful document “Reaching the summit” is an epiphany of that realization and a paradigm shift there-after and as I reflect on those moments how depression, and agony where a key element in my search for my own truth, divergent from dogma or intellectualism, this is an account that points out and encourages those that find themselves at a point in their lives of introspecting or trying to sum up the value of their being as I have come to realize our truth is within us and not in what we can or have amassed in this life-time. In Christianity they point out to salvation, as with buddhism they acknowldge samsara, I have juxtaposed in these pages my realization with regards to exploration with both religions and how I have found the underlying truth in both religious philosophies that I found to be ignored in plenty circles where I have traversed to gain insight into how we can account for our time in this life by openly accepting ourselves as responsible for the occurances within our own personal space and that we should take control in understanding how our personal truth can empower us, individuals or a collective without fear of intrsopecting or cognitive dissonance. The moment I accepted cognitive dissonance and so forth as the result of self introspection, I immediately decided to drop religion as a pillar in my personal life and found a profound happiness and peace that I was previously denied by religious dogma itself and became clear on the importance of what Jesus Christ, Siddarta Gautama “The Buddha” understood that has led me to believe if those individuals were to ecompass the same geographic location they would be very good friends because of their philosophy on the importance of “knowing thyself” In these pages I hope those reading them will come to terms with their own truth, I dedicated an entire chapter to discuss depression not as a medical phenomena but its other aspects in such that those who have experienced it, or are currently going through it at this moment maybe able to understand its importance in understanding their own truth and live accordingly. This account in these pages is not against or for religion but of the notion that we have to question our being, whether from a historical perspective, scientific perspective or religious perspective and that we don’t have to negate the part we look within ourselves and take responsibility of our current state and way of being by pointing all our misfortunes and state of being to a force we cannot account for but that we acknowledge our short-comings and also acknowledge our power, our minds and intelligence that is said to be far superior than that of other species and live with clarity.

#interlude

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When young lions need rest

The pressure of modern existence has become unbearable for those not assertive in their own truth as they constantly project and seek validation from external elements they can resonate with. This is a story about rest, taking time to reflect ask yourself despite all the social norms demanding that we gravitate towards progress, striving and all that. Take a deep breath child and let go of the notions of striving, these mental paradigms as the mystics imparted, resistance to growth because we have traditionally been conditioned to accept a familiar suffering than chartering into unknown terrain. Somehow you have come to an appreciation of familiar suffering than the unknown, Freedom of expression is not only how you carry yourself but how you think of yourself and the things that matter. Take time to ask yourself who you are, you may be afraid to reflect on that truth and settle to keeping yourself busy without allowing yourself a moment to feel deeply the truth of who you are without striving to justify it either to yourself or the other. When young lions need rest is a story about non-conformity to the notion of striving, suffering or accepting obsolete mental paradigms but to hold the truth at the centre of your being. I Have often remarked be kind, even to yourself. This is a reminder to breathe when the world gets overwhelming, pray in gratitude to the gift of life. Soaring is, loyalty to the truth at the centre of your being not perceptions relating to the ever fading hype of whether the next person will understand you or accept your notions, get out of your own way and soar flower child. We get sucked into the mental paradigms of storytelling, how we will present ourselves to the next person forgetting to march to the sound of our own drum. I have often in times past remarked be true to yourself does not mean standing guard against others’ notions but you asking at any given moment who am I. When young lions need rest is a story about introspection, curate your story in in a context that answers you when you detach from the fast paced world and take a deep breathe to ask yourself who am I. When young lions rest is a story about remembering to be kind to yourself, If this world returns to you what you put out you will certainly get kindness in return for you being kind to yourself. When young lions need rest is a story about being still when the world become overwhelming. When young lions need rest is a story about remembering there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. When young lions need rest is a story about remembering that to ask yourself who are you before attempting to curate a story to the world of how you should be perceived. When young lions need rest is a reminder to the flower child to bloom regardless of seasons that will come to pass. When young lions need rest.

#younglions #rest #soar #curate authenticity love

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Dreams & coming of age

There was a story in the good book of a master that left his servants with gifts and the story’s, bottom-line was more about how he taught through action the business of investment. Age is not proportional on a time scale of how and what we should do at what stage. This notion brought on by an elderly woman pursuing entrepreneurship well past her prime reminds me of the psychological implication we purposed time in our lives with regards to what and how any particular position we should be in or what has to be done when. Imperatives that drive and shape our mental constructs also have the ability to define our perspective on age, and accomplishing goals, so in the long haul we may decide to settle for those and things that make us at peace with who the world perceives us to be. The truth of what we are as a people remains and living with that paradigm compels us to give, seek and often live from the heart, this is my narration on coming of age. Dreams and coming of age is a paradox, a reflection on one woman’s epiphany about that age is not directly proportional to when and how we must accomplish dreams, It is a challenging paradigm to leave all we have ever known and accept the decision to live without second guessing our true nature inspired by our own giftings that stem from the heart to seek clarity to the ends of the earth and get back so we may begin again. “Emotional intelligence” she said. I stopped for a moment to ponder on those simple words that have eluded many with the presupposition that having a tactful upper hand on another or a situation. I concluded from her words suspend your judgement, practice, and live with ethics is in her context defines emotional intelligence. Dreams and coming of age is paradox on choosing happiness despite the painful realities we have confronted or been confronted with over-time, coming of age is not a physical but a mental notion of adjusting our attitude towards the true north that guides our ways. Inspired by a woman well past her prime, a powerhouse, a mother, a woman, a daughter who chose to look past her own flaws and embrace her own heart beat. Dreams and coming of age is a call to listen to your heart-beat and march to the sound of that drum, Much like the master whose servant invested what the master left and found it multiplied. We must remember dreams and coming of age is not a story about growing old but diving deep and reflecting on what is our sole purpose and serve humanity with grace of that knowledge. The master has given us time, a gifting and with that dream, coming of age is a reflection on how best we will use that to gifting to serve humanity.

#coming of age #dreams perspective love epiphany paradox master time stories

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Emotional Hygiene

Speaking of blooming I have thus since come to the realization when we take this bold step to move forward in light of authenticity we also have to be willing to embrace the pain that comes with it, persecution of others failing to understand our ways, acknowledge our differences. The inert understanding that we are one allows one to practice what I will refer in this chapter as emotional hygeine. Emotional hygeine is understanding the difference between our feelings and being able to distinguish the difference between how we feel and how others feel. You see when we begin to see the errors of our ways we are apologetic to the other and can live in harmony with the other because we give ourselves an opportunity to apologize to the other of our mis-steps. Emotional hygeine is not simply seeing the errors of our ways, but also reconciling our minds and others with the fact that we see the mis-steps of our ways. In my journey towards authenticity I have often realized we fail to acknowledge our feelings to ourselves and towards others and this causes conflict internally and externally within our personal and shared space so for us to be able to live free we have to allow our feelings to permeate through the fiber of our being with that we can know and be at peace with ourselves. I have often denied myself to experience my feelings and this has often at times resulted in an internal and external conflict that can be often times projected to others, the journey towards reaching the summit is not about denial but one of acceptance within our personal and shared space. Living in authenticity requires us to practice emotional hygeine, a practice that has slowly allowed me to come into awareness of my own value as a being either individually or within the tapestry of the collective human race. Take for instance when we have an argument we often are quick to denounce our part in casuing the event to occur or the aftermath of the event and as a result there is turmoil either internally or externally with that being said we have to allow ourselves to sit and think deeply about why we are of the perception of the other as against us, usually the root cause is choosing to see our way as the only way. Emotional hygeine refers to the fact that we choose put aside our opinions and perspective and see things from the perspective of the other and this within itself results in us not being the initiate of conflict but the one that brings an end to it. Emotional hygeine is a direct result of blooming, once we start healing from were we once bled we begin to live in this space of not striving or anguish but we begin to bypass these lessons in our experience and live from a perspective of grace. I recall before starting to acknowledge emotional hygeine as a daily practice the anguish of wanting to be accepted by others, choosing to ignore my own feelings and choosing to put others first this resulted in external pain anf conflict that we can bypass if we choose to allow ourselves to feel whatever feeling may arise within us as it is without prejudice. This process is a healing process on a material level we should allow ourselves, before this occurs we can begin to see our ways of always striving, anguish becoming obsolete in our experience and an inert peace can begin to dawn on us within our daily experience and we can live freely and make every effort, choice, decision a conscious effort towards peaceful living. Emotional hygeine as it was coined by Guy Winch is a process in my own personal space that has not only transformed the need to be accpeted and shift towards accpeting myself with all my flaws and understanding that it is okay to feel inadequate yet accept ourselves as is. I no longer project my fears and insecurities onto others instead I accept my mis-steps for being what they are, this process of emotional hygeine with the efforts of blooming have allowed me to simplify my life as much as possible and strive for excellence within my personal experience without resistance. As we gravitate towards this experience we should allow ourselves to understand authenticity is not that thing we do or say when others are watching but that thing we do or say to ourselves in our own personal space. Emotional hygeine is a practice over time that we can perfect if we are accepting of ourselves, our flaws and others as they may be different from us without prejudice towards that perceived notion of being different. I would like to emphasize in my own experience in times past there was this longing for belonging that caused me to push the boundaries of my limits in wanting to do exceedingly well so that others may find me acceptable or brilliant and with that I had to live with mental and emotional turmoil that I have began to let go and allow healing in my experience by acknowledging that I am enough as is. We are often conditioned to not understand the volatility of perception in our experience thus at times we can go for a life time wanting to prove how adequate we are or others should perceive us to be, the lesson or rejection we should take from this is that we have to begin to embrace ourselves and radiate true value within ourselves before others can see it. We do not strive for this to create an impression for others but we need to live from this perspective if we are to be truly free and enjoy life as we imagine it to be. Emotional hygeine, personally has been an experience that cannot be summed up in words and as such often we would like to experience this comfortable transformation that looks bubbly to the onlooker so we may be accpetable when in truth transformation is a painful process. It should not be painful always but mental resistance makes it so, and need for this transformation to be an event that leaves others in awe can disappoint us at times when we realize it to be otherwise. The words emotional hygeine may sound some what abnoxious or over bearring the notion of cleanliness or troubles with our feelings when the reality is that emotional hygeine is a process we experience on a mental and a physical plane. When we begin to experience emotional hygeine on an emotional plane we begin to live a life where we no longer tolerate the opinions of another to ruin our everyday decisions, feeling and on the physical plane we may come across as rebellious at times when the truth is we no longer find being confined to other people’s dogma and prejudices acceptable. This may result in an internal or external conflict if we do not allow ourselves to understand the difference between the other person’s feelings, thoughts and opinions from our own if we do not give ourselves a chance to look at ourselves and appreciate ourselves for being ourselves. Emotional hygeine may come across as a utopian concept to an onlooker who is not aware of their own contribution towards humanity as a whole, this stems from feelings of inadequacy and not understanding how to separate one’s own feeling and opinions from those of others. If we master this process we are no longer bound to accepting things at face value but we can comfortably and deeply look into our selves and ask ourselves if a particular outlook or event is acceptable for us to experience or be part of. I failed in times past to understand the concept of authenticity and thought of it as some hypist train of thought because at that time I could not see how it would serve me as a stepping stone in my personal pursuit of what eludes humanity “happiness”. With that train of authenticity as a personal practice there has been an emotional practice in my own pesonal space of what makes me uncomfortable and vice versa personally and within shared spaces. If we do not ask ourselves why we feel the way we feel towards ourselves or others we may remian victims of our own emotions and therefore lies the critical apsect in why we may need to experience and dominate our own emotions first before we engage with others from that perspective. Emotional hygeine is a fairly new ideology to the main stream but those who have been aware of it as a process rather than as a concept have been receipients and victors in their own emotional space. It is a process in which we can begin to understand that we are not our emotions but they are nonetheless part of us and we may not become enslaved by emotions, this is easier to look at this way when we think of how we can be persuaded of the value of something by appealing to our emotional mind. When we fully grasp and choose to practice emotional hygeine we begin to see clearly how, we can choose life, happiness everyday without reservation of how others may feel about our feelings or us being enslaved by their opinions in pursuit of acceptance of others. This is not some new age or hypist train of thought we ought to tell ourselves so we may sleep in the comfort of having achieved something in our daily lives but a practice to simplify how we perceive others, ourselves and how that makes up part of our daily experience and also how we can influence that process to our favour without being at the cost of another. As I write curretly there is a peace of mind permeating my being because even the notion of me writing this is not to inflate some new age thinking but share my experiences with others as I have done in times past bottled up how I feel and put up a face of everything is alright towards those that genuinely care about by well-being in pursuit of pleasing those who couldn’t spare a thought of how I feel. Emotional hygeine is learning to smiles at our own perils and knowing that it is okay that we have gone through these things that shape our way of being but do not necessarily define us as a people. We should live and learn from those perils, share our lessons from them without imposing on others our life lessons as the way of life. In my experiences the fear of what others would think if I shared about my experiences made me not live authentically, and without emotional hygeine at all because instead of enjoying the present moment my worries were simply on how others would perceive me and what they would say of me all this before realizing having something to do with our lives and something to look forward to eliminates the need to focus on other people’s affairs. As I would often give reference to my own experiences when dealing with issues of authenticity, the point to take from this is how I diverted from my own path in life in pursuit of wanting acceptance until such a time that I have learnt to accept myself practice authenticity, emotional hygeine my life is no longer confined to what this individual say or thinks of me but how can I contribute towards humanity’s well-being as I walk this material plane. So in retrospect emotional hygeine is not about disassociating ourselves with the feelings of others, being inconsiderate but choosing not to react when in conflict with the other but instead be part of the solution towards that conflict, this may be difficult to accept but not impossible to live by. In my experiences I have often come across individuals that seemed to have this figured out but when they begin to relay their experiences to me the realization of resistance dawned on me as a default experience that humanity has been going through even though we know it should not be that way and thus I am compelled to speak of emotional hygeine as an imperative we may have to take up in our daily practices. So in your own quest to reaching your own summit on this material plane, allow yourself to feel and enjoy your own feelings deeply without being dominated by them, and practice emotional hygeine when dealing with others in shared spaces or within your own personal space rememebering to be gentle with yourself because you deserve it. An awareness of the human nature of neediness, wanting to be loved and accepted became apparent to me and that the only important thing is to accept ourselves whether others have the capacity to perceive us in the same light we perceive ourselves or not. Writting and sharing this is easier to digest mentally now realizing the experience can grow or break us depending on our outlook on it and I have consciously chosen to embrace all those moments aftermath, if someone had told me prior to it all I would have not understood and be quick to assume the proverbial “there is a difference between knowing and walking the path” while that stands true, our nature of self denial to painful experience or the unfamiliar is what causes restlessness and failure to accept the blessing contained in the power of our decisions and consequence thereof is what results as pain in our experience. A growing sense of self awareness through my journey and different practices I have undertaken for emotional healing, spiritual growth and business development as I was beginning to realize gratitude of past experience as well create room for mircales to occur in my experience naturally. So in retrospect emotional hygeine is a practice that has matured my perspective in my personal space even the shared spaces, It has also taught me to let go of false mental constructs we constantly manufacture in our heads about what could go wrong or why people dislike us into a realization that these thoughts become a blueprint of our actions thus practising emotional hygeine is allowing one to be aware of themselves and others, not merely as objects but human beings to be trusted, valued and allowed a chance to express themselves before we impose labels and beliefs on them.

#emotions #reality love wereachingthesummit live free

[wereachingthesummit-blog]

On Authenticity

Authenticty (n) etimology (authentic + -ity) – undisputed credibility, 2. genuineness, 3. legitimacy According to the dictionary authenticity refers to genuineness, that is the subject of the next few paragraphs and how adopting the practise of being authentic with myself and others, how it became a key to gaining clarity in my own personal space, and a liberating perspective within itself we should all live by. Before I start to telling you of my encounters with authenticity as a practise for daily living I, will start explaining some of the serendipitous events that occurred throughout my journey that would come across to the un-descerning mind as unfortunate circumstances. Choosing to wear a mask for my public life was a painful process that required me to enact and behave in a particular way for those in my circles or on-lookers generally trying to hide all the perils of unfortunate events of failing to plan and make concious decisions about my life which and chosing to live all daily activity to routines and chance. This was a straining process emotionally and was a source of shame in my personal space when no one was there to share those moments with me and yet I was availing myself to those in my circles to help even at times without requests when I had recognized or perceived need. Currently as I am sitting and writing this reflecting on how in-authenticity is an emotional burden that we can put on ourselves to seek approval or validate our self-worth to others or through external relation to the material world much like buying a branded shirt you don’t need so that people notice you while it doesn’t add to your happiness or value, with this trend of behaviour as it started becoming apparent to me now the decisions to start a different practice to simplify my life was a bit scary, as with humans a friend of mine would at times say “humans we are used to a familiar suffering” and worry about what could happen when we step into new terrain instead of giving attention to what we can make do. As exhausting as this process was as I could reflect on fading smiles when alone how they were forced and depressing over-all the decision to start practising authenticity became the flow of thought I was now gravitating towards. Now with authenticity the seemingly scary part was stepping into the marvelous light of life for all to see in private and in public an equal light of an individual who is not vulnerable but finds strength in that vulnerability of being authentic with self and with others. Authenticity, initially as I thought it to be a process of letting others step all over you because you’re perceived as weak and as my perception of it matured over time with practise there was an ease of tension emotionally in my personal space, this was not to say I was being positive about life but being present in the moment without a bias towards what narration I would tell myself about how I feel at any given time. This is more like the sticky notes I put at the back of my bedroom door a while ago that reads “ if you feel tired rest, if you feel overwhelmed remember to breathe” looking at this note on a daily basis is a personal encounter with authenticity in my own space that I had took upon myself to practice, which now meant if a friend asks me to go to a social gathering with them and I don’t feel up to it I now had the power to influence the outcome of that situation instead of accepting an unwanted invitation to fit into a certain bracket. As a personal practise, at the back of my bedroom door that now could influence my public space, at times while walking from school, the library or walking home from where ever I no longer feel guilty about just standing there and taking a deep breathe, no longer concerned with what an on-looker would thing of me. A freedom occurs when we practise authenticity and life rises to greet us with a kind and loving embrace because realizing how being true to ourselves is godly within itself is a wonderful realization. Authenticity also has started to produce a discipline within me to know through denial of what is not worth allocating my time to because energy no longer has to flow towards endeavours that are a burden in search of acceptance. It is a gradual learning curve because even as I write these words I am still shedding old habbits that are obsolete and with the results that are not only apparent in my own mental constructs or interactions with others, authenticity gives us that “much needed deep breathe” when we begin to see ourselves as worthy of love and goodness this life has to offer without feeling intitled to anything or false notions of problems that arose from my old ways of thinking. The second lesson towards my journey of authentic living was another sticker stuck at the back of my bedroom door that read “ it is never somebody else’s fault” this one was a lesson in acceptance of myself and others, the fact that we are all different and have a different outlook on life was the beauty of life there within itself. I now began a practise of questioning every conflict between myself and others if I had contributed towards it occuring in the first place or responsible for not reaching an amicable resolution with the other by apologizing if in the wrong. This practice is one of the most difficult encounters I have had with authenticity because everytime we live life we by default have a keeness towards perceiving every notion of wrong as somebody else’s fault even if that is not the case, what if the way you think is the problem and not the problem itself I thought to myself. This notion made me realize we can create conflict where none exists because we think in a particular way that affects whether we react to another or accept them for being as exactly they are. So this thought did not manifest out of the blue but was a result of a situation that I found myself in and realized maybe the problem was with the way I was thinking and how I was always reactive to events that stirred unwanted thoughts and unconscious decisions that create a ripple of results in my life that would be unwanted because of not knowing acceptance as a practice. As they say when the student is ready the master will appear, Authenticity my master appeared to teach me as the student three important principles in life with the first and most important knowing love without condition whether for myself or another, patience to know that it is okay to have some aspects of life not all figured out and perserverance above all else. Authenticity, we must all become accustomed to it as a way of life, it is not an instantaneous transition but a process and personally I used stick notes at the back of my bedroom door to practise personally and then practise with others once I had figured how to be true and sincire with myself. It is a continous life process that we live and learn from as it becomes challenging when we live or work in an environment where authenticity is perceived as a weakness or a fault because in that regards we can influence others to become authentic with us and themselves firstly or we can be influenced with them to become in-authentic. The theatrics of life I once alotted time to creating on how to interact with others and behave for approval have become mundane and, a nakedness of thought occurred which was worrisome at first because there is that constant thought if others see it that you’re somehow vulnerable or not and it gives you power recognizing that being in this position does not disadvantage you at any cost because you have no energy to give towards the mental voice over always labelling and worrying about others but for the first time you’re able to focus on the yourself, people and things that matter to you and be at your best daily. Authenticity is like the prunning process that fosters growth in plants, when a farmer prunes a tree it gives new buds and healthy living parts of the plant will spring forth, just as with practicing authenticity we foster these new ways of living life consciously with purpose, as with myself I discovered that loving myself fearlessly has taught those I come into contact with to reciprocate this appreciation of self. I no longer force relationships, communication with others as all these things happen naturally and effortlessly, which brings joy to me because there is no longer that need and emotional burden to manufacture a story through mental voice overs on how to handle situations of things that should occur naturally as we allow ourselves to be and let life take its course, this is not giving up control but being truly in control effortlessly. As I start living with this notion of authenticity, there is an over bearing feeling of loneliness initially, feelings of resentfulness towards myself of having alienated everyone from my social circle but this is merely a thought that rises and subsides over time when the truth, overtime a realization has been dawning on me that only people with purpose in their own and my life remain within my professional and social circles and so it should remain as a stepping stone towards happiness in my personal and shared space. It seems a burden to think that with authenticity is not simply as we would like to think “being true to yourself” but an introspection from time to time that demands we have a look and reflect on what we value in this life, people that aid to the mosaic of meaning we ascribe to our own daily lives, the purpose we ascribe to our own lives is part of that process. I have thus far dropped the notion of living off a basic time-table with daily routines, get this I’m not advocating living a life without order or a sense of direction, this is simply pointing to how I have somehow with adopting authenticity as a daily practise I have gotten rid of “stupid and busy” notions we ascribe to our lives as a default, thus have started living more meaningfully with purpose and intent. At this point in time as I write these paragraphs thinking on how I could relay the fact that I have all this time on my hands that I am seeking a path way of expression to utilize through creative pursuits but the last lesson I am coming to grips with is focus, and the fact that in my bedroom on my bed there is this shoe box next to it is a note pad and a pen, in it are pages and articles from magazines, journals in it. The reason why I mention this box and “focus” that seems to be a disconnect from the flow of thought I was articulating is because it aids to make a point on how writing ideas, thoughts and concepts for storage as having learnt the process of prioritizing as in this particular box there is only lists of activities that I must undertake within the short and long-term context from this moment as they have and are all shaping my life within the social and professional context. Learning the importance of focus from this process, there is a thought flooding my mind at times as I write some of the notes, “renounce all the busyness and focus on what matters”. What does it mean to focus on what matters, because at times life passes us by while we are stuck up with “what matters”, the paradox of not allowing life to pass you by and focusing on what matters eludes me. Usually in times past if you where to ask me what matters, probably pointing out financial pursuits would be the only thing on my list not that it is wrong to be this way but a friend of mine, taught me about his philosophy how he perceives that health is wealth and what matters to him, while for me a philanthropic train of thought would be mine even though this would not be the absolute truth. The underlying reason for this being my affinity for financial well-being that I am slowly learning to balance with being in good helath, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Mostly the notions we point out as “what matters” are merely for advancing our cause even at the expense of others regardless of how we frame it in our minds and to others, authenticity does away with this way of living.

#authenticity #lovelife #freedom paradigm shift #truth #liberation #love #happiness #peace well being #authentic

[wereachingthesummit-blog]

Truth is a point of view, but authenticity can't be faked

#authencity #love life

[wereachingthesummit-blog]

Much like that pain shooting in my foot right now as I write, ever had that heartfelt emotional pain or the physical pain that compels you to scream whatever it is that you may be it screaming for your mother or God’s name in whichever language. You see that moment you stop sobbing and realize suddenly whether in the present moment or as you reminisce at that point when you realize the strength from that experience, I call it “blooming”. In my experiences as I reflect on past mis-fortunes if they are to be seen as misfortunes, realizing the strength in these moments is one of the greatest gifts life offered me in times past and I am forever grateful. You see, we as human beings are not wired to be experiencing pain as a hallmark of growth or in order to lose naivety however in my experience there was that element and instead as you read about some of my experiences that I have termed “blooming” think of them not as stories about pain or misery but rather a narration on the discovery of true love that was experienced in an unsual manner because of resistance to change that was in my own life experience. Remember earlier on how the reflection of authentic living was a turning point in my experience, pain has its own beauty, a glow of love that life as our teacher comes to show us at times in the most harsh circumstances or graceful ones all depending on our attitude towards life which must be lived with sincere gratitude. My first encounters with “blooming” when I still perceived it as pain or misfortune maybe a distinct dsyfunction in my own living space caused from rejection, we often at times encounter rejection but because no one educated us about it as a fact of life we do not know how to deal with it and feel anger, regret, amongst other negative feelings as a way of dealing with it all. Rejection materializes in our daily interactions with ourselves or others whether we are aware of it or not, at times in the form of looking for love, acceptance and a sense of belonging in relation to external objects, relationships with others however what we neglect to realize in such moments is the blessing of learning to discern what is right for us and what is wrong for us in different circumstances. That is how we experience pain because we forcefully envision ourselves in circumstances that have negative feedback to us from the get go but we ignore these signs from the beginning. My ecounters with “blooming” started manifesting themselves with my high affinity of wanting to drown myself into work and my academic pursuits to avoid being alone with my feelings to experience them within their highest depths and accept myself in moments of weakness, sorrow or pure joy. The process resulted in negative feedback sometimes that as the individual experiencing it I was not aware of it even if at times those around me would be, evident in the frastruted behaviour and not being able to communicate even the most basic idea clearly the first assumption would be to assume something is wrong with the other person. Ever been in denial about your issues that you constantly assume or ask others if they are okay or if something is wrong with them, that was about the feeling and experience I am referring to. The second way this process occurred was the tendency to want to care too much about other people’s well-being not that there is something wrong with that but the challenge became neglecting my own well-being, which manifested in the form of always looking for social or professional activity to engage in to avoid having to rest, be at home, be at peace with myself at times extremes would involve gaming consoles and a constant obsession with them which society has now conditioned us to think happiness is found in these entertainment tools. “Blooming” is a wonderful process, even as there is a mild pain shooting in my foot right now, I am sitting here at peace with myself and taking me into consideration first, call it egotism if you will but that is the first step in life of learning the love part in the “blooming” experience. Maybe you cannot understand the notion that you cannot love another before you can fully love yourself, it eludes your mind maybe because the pain and the silence is so loud that you cannot live with it and you have a preference of projecting love externally to objects, things, people which at times you’re likely to suffer from rejection not because you’re not worthy of having love reciprocated in your direction but because your projection of love externally lacks an authenticity sometimes you may be unaware of. “Blooming” is a process of constant reflection on that we ought to love more, be of gratitude towards others and life in general. As I started to withdraw myself, from the over burden of working or studying beyond what I should to avoid experiencing my own feelings there was a numbness to life I started to see in my thought patterns, behaviour and experiences with others. Often times, I would ask what is it that you see when you see me, of course staring in the mirror usually in the mornings and it was until I started reciting to myself everyday that you’re loved, you’re amazing that these words started becoming part of my physical experience with others. Secondly with “blooming” came the concept of self-respect that an acquiantance of mine with regards to work he would remark “stop giving people power” and now I understand this statement could be applied to multiple scenarios. In this case it is in reference to how we often complain about other people in our social or professional circles to another group of people within the same context but never actually stop to confront situation, people or circumstances that disturb our peace in our daily living. I believe confrontation should be not a violent but a graceful process in which we engage another so that they may become aware of the effects of their words, behaviour and how it impacts the other within the same shared or personal space. Avoiding this practise in communicating with the other as part of “blooming” will manifest often as in my experiences as frustration and denying the other an opportunity for growth because we do not communicate so that they may learn instead we want to keep it all inside or on the extreme end avoid the person all together thinking we may become happier by that way of dealing with things. My second experiences with “blooming” from a shared spaces and social circles perspective had now become that of alienating others, with emphasis on those that refuse to accept that when one has chosen a way of living, the things that individual focuses on change. This shifting of my attention from the mundane social etiquette towards chosing to be in peaceful engagements that stimulate growth emotionally, spiritually and professionally was threatening to some and we have to accept this as part of the “blooming” process otherwise we may remain stuck if we choose not to. If you find yourself being one of those people that say “I have no friends” to feel needed or validate your own importance in the social context you need to stop that inauthentic practice, this was one of the engagements I would dwell on at times and only to realize that alienated people that truly care about us and with consequence when we are stuck wonder why is it that no one ever asks how we are doing yet we engage with others all the time. “Blooming” is not about pain whether psychological, emotional or physical but an acceptance of the gifts life has given us as a result of mental resistance to change etc, but the knowledge of how going with the flow and engaging with others from a place of gratitude eliminates all this unecessary suffering and allows us to see ourselves blooming from that place we once bled. I am currently busking in the sun, you could ask why highlight that mundane fact but look at it this way, even being grateful of the smallest things in life makes our experiences on this material plane graceful and creates room for miracles to occur in our daily living experience. That is the very nature of “blooming” effortless and non-resistant way towards life. I am blooming, and with that, I have also come to realize that perception is volatile therefore as you would experience that moment of shattering pain or loss it would be important to allow yourself to feel, deeply, pain, joy, sorrow, regret or ecstasy. I recall a story about a woman who had a miscarriage and having her entire will to live shattered in that moment, telling her woman how to feel or to be strong would be inconsiderate and if she was to heal it would be important to realize that experiencing pain and emotional overwhelm was “blooming”. She is strong, courageous and compassionate because life gave her a loss and in that she says there was a gift to evolve and become a compassionate being who is not only called “mother” by her biological offspring. I found solace in moments of weakness and from that story recalling that I can neither say I understand or relate however the lessons learnt from that story allow me to see even some of the most tragic of events in life as “blooming” rather than setbacks or defeat. My most important personal encounter with “blooming” was with realization that trajectories can be altered even after the dominos have started to fall, because having nothing but faith to sustain me in times past my whole framework of assumptions was challenged and having to find strength in weakness. I am now from that experience of the opinion that whatever religion or spiritual view you have you ought to pray for humility always. Remarking on trajectories in closing of this chapter I recall, asking for assistance from a public transport operator to give me assistance in getting home as at that particular time I was without money to travel back home. The reason there is emphasis on this particular day is with regards to humility, and adversity. An individual I had known and conversed with ocassionally was at this time the one who was capable of assisting me in getting home as at this time there was no one else able to assist and as the phrase “when days are dark, friends are few” dawned on me and the first notion we usually gravitate towards in such situations is to place blame on life, unfairness, circumstances , how we are brought up etc but this time I could clearly see how the decisions and interactions I had engaged with upt this moment brought me here, as a minor argument ensued about a passenger who didn’t pay the transport operator encouraged me to hold my peace.At this point in time it became clear how adversity drives us towards people we perceive to be not instrumental to our daily living as our only possible source of external assistance only to realize there is no being without value regardless of our perception of people and since that point in time I dropped the old notion of wanting to associate with people that supossedly benefit us. Adversity was not the situation itself but everything leading to that moment, bankrupt, humbled by life and being in a place to change it all, the decision to act. By chance, by intuition I knew we would meet even though that defied logic and we did in the moment prior a voice over was going off in my head about the story to say to whomever I would ask at the station and as such, the thought of authentic living overcame me and in that moment telling him the truth resulted in him helping me out. We tend to worry too much about materialism that we worry about money, and forget humility when not faced with adversity. Adversity is a moment of reflection and I could see clearly from this particular instance where one stranger who owes me no explanation helped me and without fuss. Even with adversity at its greatest height rembering humility and faith in those moments to carry us when we soar like eagles helps us mature and allows us to live gracefully.

#blooming evolution thebeginning