As I have been reclaiming a few hours in my day to be all mine, I have been thinking about what it means to be alive vs. existing. It reminds me of this quote by Marion Woodman, “If we fail to nourish our souls, they wither, and without the soul, life ceases to have meaning. The creative process shrivels in the absence of continual dialogue with the soul. And creativity is what makes life worth living.”
That’s the difference. We are either living in communion with our life, our soul, or trying to force our life to bend around the cultural dictates of what we think we ought to desire. I can say from experience this latter way of life is totally miserable. I think we all seek deeper meaning, we just don’t always know where to look.
Being alive, really present in our lives takes a lot of effort. My analyst told me Marion Woodman said, if you don’t have at least an hour a day to devote to your inner journey don’t bother. It takes time and energy to discover yourself, what you want, what’s really important. And it’s not always pleasant. There can be some pretty dusty corners, aspects of ourselves that are difficult to own. But these are the very things that control our lives when we don’t pay attention to them. No matter what turns up, if we’re doing the work, at least we’re on the journey to create meaning in our lives. If we nourish our creativity it creates a bridge to our soul.
Being on the journey is only half the battle. Paying attention and following through with what we find can be daunting. Once we get in the habit of listening it gets easier, the terrain becomes more familiar. Every morning when I sit to do all of my inner work I always have the feeling, this is really it! This is the real work I am suppose to be doing. The real work of living, the real work of my life. I’m not just going through the motions. It’s such an unbelievable feeling. The truth is if we feed our soul it reciprocates. It gives us unimaginable gifts. The gift of being really alive, being fully creative, feeling connected, listening to our inner voice. This is the voice that’s usually pushed aside trying to fit into what the culture demands. And there are plenty of demands on us.
Taking the time to listen to that voice and do the work of the inner journey builds meaning into our lives. Then we can make the choice to connect to that authenticity instead of spinning our wheels over what if, or if only. Maybe every moment can’t be like that but I would like to see how many of those moments I can fit into each day.
What I do know for sure that I won’t settle for ‘less than’ anymore.
Here’s to really living a fully creative life full of depth and meaning.
kb
