Day 171/366 days Towards Self-Mastery.
There's a huge shift right now that's been happening over the last 2 decades.
It's the realisation that individualism hasn't served us as a society and the obvious solution seems to be to shift the pendulum over to relationships and community as the solution. None of this I have any problem with.
However I would say that there is a need for a mix of both. It doesn't serve me well, nor you I would imagine, to be told that it is not possible to solve your own problems or find your own solutions. You can't love yourself, it's not a possibility, was a sentiment I recently heard from a therapist. That you need to do all this in relation with another.
The self-help industry has proliferated over preceding decades and has been enormously helpful for many. Not all our answers will be found there. Not all our solutions will come from others advice nor their strategies.
Yet there is enormous potential for inspiration and reflection in other's experiences.
There is also enormous benefit is spending time with others, a friend or partner or community member or therapist who has experienced life differently. If you are able to be open to hearing another's perspective, they will often see things and enquire into things about the way you process life that can be enormously helpful and insightful.
Individualism has certainly been responsible for a lot of suffering through isolation and separation. Yet I would caution us to really acknowledge the purity of the individuals contribution and what that brings to the collective.
We are each exquisitely unique beings with a lifetime of experiences and meanings to offer, to share. I want to honour that AND the richness that being openly and deliberately relational brings to my life.
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.