Lately I’ve been thinking about connection and how to connect to my life in a more meaningful way. Following the seasons, the phases of the moon, connecting to these rhythms helps, so does journaling and dream work. They light my path, and help counteract all that darkness, all that is unknown.

I do Tarot in connection with my dream work and I love Angeles Arrien “The Tarot Handbook.” There is a quote in there that I run across pretty often which says, “This symbol (the hanged man) ultimately teaches us that there are many more options, solutions, and perspectives to consider than those in which we are currently invested.” I think I run across it so often because I keep forgetting that what I am doing now is only one way out of thousands. And quite frankly there is probably a better way to approach, live, and understand my life. So I keep an open mind.

This is how I came up with a daily ritual, or series of rituals, that connect me in a more meaningful way to my life and help open the gates to what could be on the horizon. I had this job I wasn’t so excited about and one day I found myself in this routine: get up, get ready for work, go to work, come home take care of the essentials, (cooking, grocery shopping, laundry, etc) go to bed. Repeat. One day I thought to myself, if this is it, it’s not enough. There has to be more. So now I get up two hours earlier to meditate, do yoga, journal, do dream work and draw. Undoubtedly this is the work of my soul. I call it my real job. Looking inside and making all those intangibles more concrete, more integrated into my daily life. I pull these lessons out into my day. I start here in the morning and this energy of looking deeper gets infused into the rest of my work day.

I have an altar. I light candles. I honor the day and my journey. I buy flowers for myself. These are some of the beautiful rituals that connect me back, that let me honor my life. I am grateful for a way to express that gratitude. And, oh boy, have these small rituals changed everything. They’ve changed me and the way I see myself, my life, and all the things in it. The trickle down effect is absolutely astonishing.

Jung says, “Man is in need of a symbolic life.” We have lost touch with something larger than ourselves, with other dimensions of ourselves. All we’re left with is the dried out husk. Reclaiming what has meaning is a way of reclaiming our essential self. That part that gets lost in the hectic pace of day to day life. It’s up to each of us to find out what has meaning for us in our lives and to consciously incorporate it into our daily living.

Here’s wishing you find those things that reconnect you to you most authentic self, and give your life back its mystery.

kb