The two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why.
Mark Twain
Each month, we share insights, inspiration, and all the ways the cycles of the Great Mandala uplift and support you. We draw upon the metaphors and messages of each season to explore and celebrate our individual and collective personal growth journeys.
Life goes in circles...all aspects of life...expansion, contraction, every part is equal, valued, necessary to be in balance...
The seasonal cycles play a significant role in our daily lives, influencing our moods, energy levels, and overall well-being. The annual and monthly Co-Creative Mandalas have a vibration that anchors, activates specific qualities, and represents something about the natural world and the energy in the universe at a particular time. The mandalas support aligning ourselves with the natural rhythms of the Great Mandala and enhance our sense of connection--within, with each other, and the world.
This month's mandala is Purpose.
This Co-Creative Mandala, Purpose, is from a photo of snowdrops (symbolizes spirituality) are the first flowers to emerge from winter's rest. It's associated with the root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, and crown chakras. It reminds you this is the time for celebrating your uniqueness and for realizing that you are destined for something amazing. It invites you to listen to your inner guidance, calling you to have a clear sense of your authentic purpose It's okay if you're not quite certain what that is. Stay open to the mystery and magic that's emerging. You may discover your purpose isn't necessarily what you think it is.
As spring approaches (in 21 days!) for many of us, we can almost feel the plants around us getting ready to push out of the ground and open to the sun. Are you ready to follow their lead? This is the time for awakening your most expansive self, for navigating the changes and challenges that can create barriers to joy, fulfillment, and a meaningful life.
I love this liminal space...winter's still here and spring is calling forth new possibilities. As the days slowly grow longer and the first whispers of spring stir in the depths of the Earth, beneath the frozen ground, it's the time when we begin to feel spring’s inevitable arrival. You know that feeling you get when you see the earliest sprouts poking through the dirt or you notice the sun setting a bit later than before even though winter isn't quite done with us? It's that excitement, trusting spring is coming with new life, a new chapter, when your energy and the Earth's energy are buzzing.
Since ancient times humans have wondered if the darkness of winter would release it's icy grip on the world. Individually and collectively, we are experiencing uncertain times. We may also wonder if we'll move through dark times. The liminal space is also happening within us individually and collectively. We're still in the darkness of our "winter" depths, at the same time feeling the hope, potential and possibilities of our inner"spring" awakening.
We can look to what's happening in nature for comfort and as a source of hope as the seasonal changes remind us to have faith...anything is possible, and miracles are happening right now.
As conscious, spiritual beings we are on the forefront of our collective expansion and evolution of consciousness. It's up to us to "be the change we want to see in the world"...
Even though there's a pull toward the outer (both in nature, in the world, and within ourselves) at this time it's so important to intentionally calm & quiet your mind so you can hear your own, deep down, inner voice. This supports honoring all your experiences and clearing space so you can hear the guidance available to you. This is the time to trust that these downloads from your Soul, from the Divine, from nature & the Earth all support the understanding that you have the power to co-create a world of meaning and purpose for yourself and others.
This is the perfect time for reflection, for asking ourselves powerful questions about what matters to us, what we value, how we want to make a difference in the world. It's the perfect time for asking yourself if you are living your purpose, with purpose, on purpose.
Have you recently asked yourself: Why am I here? What does a meaningful life look like? What is my purpose? How can I intentionally show up in the world?
Until recently, I associated living my purpose with doing, with action, with how I manifest and co-create in the world. I thought living my purpose meant I was setting and achieving goals, i.e., contributing to my community, pursuing creative expression, serving others, building my business. I came to realize that living my purpose is so much more than the goals I set and the actions I take. Deep reflection revealed that there's a source of living our purpose that we all share. I discovered that we all have the same purpose: Remembering our Wholeness.
Living your purpose, with purpose, on purpose is an inside job. I believe we all live the same Purpose even though we express our purpose in unique ways, at our own pace. We are infinite beings of light and love...that is our Wholeness. Remembering our Wholeness supports us not only to access the source of purpose, it supports expressing purpose with intentionality. When we live our purpose, with purpose, on purpose it helps us get through the challenges with greater ease, inner strength, and peace by giving us access to greater joy, hope, and well-being along the way.
There are subtle, but key, differences between the three concepts:
>Living your purpose is your true north, your sense of direction. It focuses on the source of your purpose, what matters, what you value in life.
>living with purpose is aligning your every day actions with Wholeness. It envisions your entire life as your purpose and how your actions and choices benefit you and others.
>living on purpose focuses on being intentional and deliberate as you co-create in the world with purpose.
As a pathway to living my purpose from Wholeness, this year I'm focusing on Alignment. I discovered the concept and process of Alignment through Nova Wightman's work. She defines Alignment as:
... it's about engaging in self-awareness, consciousness and intention - disrupting the more reactionary and automatic states we humans tend to live from, especially in a world and time where life is exceptionally loud, fast-paced and seemingly full of endless distraction and unexpected curve balls to navigate. It's also a way to engage in your partnership with the Universe/the Divine/God/Your Inner Being so that you can better allow in the extra help.
This year I'm focusing on Aligning with Wisdom--found within, found in outer sources, and in nature. You might have a different name for the vibration with which you choose to align: Love, connection, freedom, joy, compassion, abundance. Wisdom, like all names we use for expansive vibrations, arises from our Wholeness. The practice of aligning (through meditation, breath work, journaling, energy clearing, mindfulness, connection to nature) is your access point to Wholeness, your true, authentic, most expansive self. Aligning is the connection with your inner self, and to the universe (higher power, spirit--whatever you call that source of expansive energy). This access point is where you remember your Wholeness.
Honoring the moment, remembering your wholeness, and acknowledging your connection to everything is life purpose. Being in that vibration, trusting your wisdom, and the wisdom of the universe is a state of being from which all "doing" arises. It is from the gentle whispers of wisdom that the still small voice emerges and we find our greatest strength. Life purpose is connecting to Source, which leads to intentionally bringing grace to our actions, to whatever career we choose, to whatever we manifest in the world. It's our quiet persistence from the depths of our "winter" that co-creates our "spring" expansion. When we choose to align with wisdom, we become the gardeners of transformation in our own lives. From there we can choose to make a difference in the lives of others, or serve our community, or build a business, or pursue our creativity.
Living your purpose, with purpose, on purpose is a journey and there aren’t any shortcuts on life’s journey. Even now, as I live my purpose with purpose on purpose, I am defining and continually refining how I live that purpose. I like to ask myself three questions each morning:
When we slow down, align with wisdom (love, compassion, connection, trust), shift our perspectives, and explore the full spectrum of human experience, remember our wholeness, from anxiety to freedom, guilt to acceptance, earthly to divine, we are living our purpose. In this combined state of intention and focus that alignment with wisdom implies we are invited to inhabit our bodies, our intellects, and our spirits simultaneously. This is where the mind, the body, and the spirit are felt and inhabited in deeper ways that are not possible when we attempt to focus on them separately.
We are whole only to the degree that we embrace all parts of our beings.That's remembering our wholeness. That's living our purpose, with purpose, on purpose.
With love, light, and blessings,
RSS Feed
