I get so annoyed when I hear people say their way is the ONLY WAY to happiness or healing or inner peace or fame and fortune! If you just do THIS all your problems will be solved in an instant. If you follow this diet, or this spiritual practice, or this guru, you will become enlightened in ten easy steps.

This makes me surly, taciturn, and curmudgeonly. (The thesaurus is my friend today. Can you tell?)
Maybe the methods they are promoting work for the less persnickety among us, the less wizard-y. But, if you have a rainforest mind, it is quite likely you will need to explore, experiment, and engage with multiple ideas, tools, techniques, and practitioners (not to mention career paths). Maybe even over many years. It could turn into your life’s work to dive into your inner worlds and swim around in the muck, occasionally finding spectacular diamonds, or your lost keys, or the legacy of fear in your ancestors, and ultimately your connection to “life, the universe, and everything.”*
Am I making a case for my own life path? Am I a little defensive of the fact that I am STILL not finished with my inner world escapades?
Maybe.
I have only recently realized that my human body might have some guidance that could be useful. Let me explain. I appreciate my physical self for sure. I am grateful for its high functioning after so many years. I just think I did not realize there might be more insight or intuition or spirituality or joy that I might receive from it if I knew how to dial in to its reservoir. I mean, it is not like I am totally out of touch. I danced Argentine tango for years, after all. I had to be embodied to do that. And there were certainly thrilling tango moments when I was tuned in to my body, the music, my partner’s body, the floor, the room, and oh, the All! So, there’s that. And, yes, I know all about how “the body keeps the score” and I use somatic experiencing with my clients. And with myself.
But, I am wondering what I might do on a daily basis or how I might benefit from a more body-inclusive life. For example, I am trying to get myself back to a daily meditation practice. That would be a start. But, what else?
Well. I think I need to create my own custom ritual that would open up new parts of me that are waiting to be tapped. I know I have always had a singer/dancer in me who has found her expression off and on, here and there. But maybe she wants more.
Oh dear. As I write that I can feel some anxiety burbling. That is a sign I am on to something. Not only that I FEEL my body burbling, which is progress, but that I am getting an answer FROM my body. And she is rolling her eyes because I have ignored her for a long time.
Now I am going to get something to eat. Classic stalling tactic.
OK. So, a ritual. Perhaps, I need to find a new song that will be my theme song. Nothing in my playlist is quite right. I need something inspiring. If you have any suggestions, please share. Once I find the song(s), it could be as easy as playing it every day and dancing to it– Imagining a part of me who has been desperate to express herself, now has the floor. I think my reluctance is because this part is powerful. Perhaps, when I let her out, there will be an explosion that will make me even more visible to you and the All. And there will be no going back. Whoa. I think I just had a hot flash.
But, really, what am I waiting for? As they say, I am not getting any younger.
So, my friends, my sweet, intricate, smart, visionary, discerning peeps, what if you, too, create your own ritual– A ritual to address whatever issue you are working on at the moment. Something to honor your own deep, dark, complex, rich inner worlds. Something to open up to more of who you are. Because you, my darlings, are not one-size-fits-all. Not even close.
And I will be singing, dancing, and finding the diamonds, with you, as we continue to embark on our particularly perplexing, delightfully discerning, weirdly wizard-y, inner world escapades.
(Note: In case you are wondering, I am not suggesting we ignore the outer world. Nooooo. When we access more and more of our authentic selves, we are better able to contribute, to find our influential voice, and to walk our particular compassionate paths to “life, the universe, and everything.”*)
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To my bloggEEs: Do you engage with multiple ideas, tools, techniques, and practitioners? What rituals are you designing? Let us know! And much love to you all, as always. Oh, and after I wrote this I went searching for the song. I may have found one. A Beautiful Noise. Alicia Keys, Brandi Carlile.
(*Thank you Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.)
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