Day 334/366 days Towards Self-Mastery.
A charmed life. OMG where do I begin? What exactly is a charmed life? Who has one? How do we recognise it when we see it?
If you're still admiring profiled celebrities in glossy magazines you are either too young to understand the meaning of strength of character, wisdom of experience and the grace to know when and how to exercise them, or you're still too impacted by adverse experiences to see the wood for the trees.
While we are looking out there for examples of how to live our life so that we might enjoy the thrills of charm that comes with status, wealth and recognition we're overlooking the reservoir of greatness that is stored in our memory, our body and our heritage.
It took me a lifetime of rejecting my heritage, ignoring my background, turning my back on my history and getting completely lost in a life that I had no connections with, before I realised everything I ever wanted was already within me. Passed down to me as knowledge, and impulse, instinct and skill from the generations that had gone before me.
It's no understatement that I had to get completely lost before I could find myself again.
And it's taken months of exploring old photos, digging through heritage.com, connecting to distant families and hours upon hours of listening to my parents stories to finally have some knowledge of the family that I have emerged from. Did I mention hours upon hours of meditation connecting with ancestors and listening to their messages in my bones?
I've learned about poverty and wealth from that family. Compassion and brutality, rejection and forgiveness from that family. I've learned about passion and living well. About life's missteps and the cruelty of spending a lifetime in remorse. I've learned about isolation, lack of support, and caring and kindness. I've learned about trauma and fragility, strength and endurance, sustainability and regeneration, and love that knows no bounds.
And from that rich well of all there is, I have crafted my charmed life. And so it is.
May you too be blessed with the knowledge, wisdom and connection with your family's ancestors. It begins with knowing your people.
366 days Towards Self-Mastery
When I considered my New Year's intentions for 2020 I had just one: To allow my heart to love what it loved...and let it lead me. (If not now, then when?)
I've spent months working on integrating my life. To live life more fully with my home life, my interests, my work, my responsibilities, all coming together, all connected. I want to give each the attention that they desire and need, and still have time and energy for the others. That means living and working from the heart.
As I was clearing out my bookshelf over the Christmas break I discovered Simple Abundance. I set it aside to explore it on New Year's Day as I lazed through another delicious day of nothingness. Sarah, the author, says this book is about living in grace. Living in grace I realised, is about Self-Mastery.
My thirst for understanding the human condition has driven me all my life, and hand-in-hand with self-mastery it has been a life-long goal. And seeing as I love to write, that living in grace is about self-mastery, and I love a bit of a challenge, then if I am truly going to let my heart lead, I really don't have any other choice. So scary as it feels, I'm starting out on a daily mission of leaning into the suggestions of this daybook and making a daily post to keep me accountable. If not now, then when?
I'm Josie. You can find out a little more about me here.
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy: by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
This book is written for the Australian and NZ market because it refers to seasonal changes. It's available on Amazon here if you'd like to follow along.