I’m here to report back on ‘welcoming psychic psimplicity’. It is apparently hard for me to switch off the dopamine-chasing when there is no-one waiting at the end of a zoom call for me to turn up and interact. In other words, ‘holiday time’ arrives and my daily discipline goes haywire. This is partly because I am the ‘outwardly accountable’ type – or to Gretchin Rubin, an ‘obliger’; BUT, I realised, it’s also partly (that I’m depressed and guarded and out-of-sorts while not working) because I get such joy, such true dopamine, out of the work I do.
Yes, I certainly needed this week-long break from client bookings, and yes I need to be less over-loaded, and yes I need to set my schedule and my ‘offering menu’ to be more manageable… but I am enriched by the work I do. It gives me Joy. And it’s the Joy of Joining with others, in the field of dialogue and connection.
I love it when I see people growing at a deep, spiritual level – and experiencing their higher selves. And I’m just so lucky that my work, of wellbeing and peace-making, sits in that sphere, of spiritual growth.
I also thought of Janet Cundall’s joy in serving: “I love to serve! Thank you for letting me serve you!”
How can I sum it up?
I enJoy serving others in their journey of spiritual growth.
Does it sound a bit…?
Oop! Pause. Let the statement in. Let it land. This is a big and important step. You want to welcome psychic psimplicity?Well then, this statement is a profoundly important insight. If you wanted a filter to discern what is ‘extraneous’ in your life – or, what could be shaved off by Occam’s razor of psychic parsimony – then you couldn’t find a much better touchstone than this: I enJoy serving others in their journey of spiritual growth.
Why this statement? Because:
a) It is about your own particular Route to Joy (and we know, it’s not what Cosmopolitan told you it would be)
b) It hugely refines, defines and simplifies the Work you are engaged in. You simply ask: Does this work serve others’ spiritual growth? If yes, onwards. If not, drop it like it’s hot.
c) This is about energetic sustainability. If the work you do is bringing you Joy, it is nourishing you and filling you, and you will be able to do it forever.
d) It is also about spiritual sustainability. Your spirit and heart yearn for growth. Give away that which you wish to attain – remember that? Teach what you would really master. Yes? In other words, if you want to keep growing spiritually (or ‘evolving’, ‘developing’ – any word will do), you have to be consciously adding to the system. Your input is now required, as they say.
I see. ty. tyvm.
You know exactly what work Serves Others’ Spiritual Evolution and what doesn’t. How? By the way it makes you feel. The work that does not hit the mark leaves you feeling… dirty, tired, contaminated, regretful. And sometimes it’s not the work itself, as much as the spirit you undertake it in! This is advanced warrior training here, sweet friend.
Yes. It is…. I feel very soft inside. Show me…. Guide me…. Carry me…. Remind me…. Help me to remember and hold true. Let me be quiet about this, but not forget it! Let me absorb this insight deeply into my psyche, and heart and soul.
It is in your soul already, dear one. This is your very soul’s plan.
Ah. I see. Good…. Ty.
SOSE {Serve Others Spiritual Evolution} <3 Our quiet work together. Ok?
Yes!
I want to add that all this is based on the assumption that we are alllll involved in spiritual evolution, as a default aspect of having a human life. Like, it’s not something ‘special’ or ‘esoteric’ or ‘mysterious’. Serving another’s spiritual growth is basically like being conscious of being a moving part/cog in someone’s complex lifetime machinery, and doing our cogly work well. No self-consciousness…. or self-congrats. Thank yew.
Also, I’d like to note that actually serving someone’s SG is a result of grace, not our personal brilliance. It’s a gift to us. Hence, “Thank you for letting me serve…”
It’s Radical Love, isn’t it? Because it’s about trusting the deep spiritual truth that we do actually support/serve ourselves best via… our service to others (aka STO). Counter-intuitive to a human; yet, it’s the absolute MO for a being unencumbered by an egoic mind.
Boom. <3
So now I can psychically psimplify my day by asking my Self:
How best can I serve others’ spiritual evolution today?
___
After I wrote the above, yesterday, I later went out, and nearly crashed my car head on into a bus, with my daughter and her boyfriend in the car, having swung out into the wrong lane in a distracted (and hyper) state. Luckily there happened to be a lay-by I could swerve into. I arrive here today, very much in need of guidance to calm down, get back into my body, forgive myself for yesterday, and reset my mind.
Let’s go in – but properly. 20 mins. With some self-compassion.
***
***
In that beautiful mediation I recalled that sustained meditation is a super power, because it disconnects the brain’s dopamine seeking, by dint of our just not responding to the pangs for stimulation for 20mins. On top of that, we can infuse ourselves with something good, like ‘affectionate breathing’.
Insight arising in mediation: Maybe the O in SOSE stands for ‘OUR’ as much as for ‘OTHERS”. My spiritual growth can not happen separately to yours, and vice versa. And, the notion of ‘the other’ is not exactly within the concepts of ONEness.
Hence it would be:
So now I can psychically psimplify my day by asking my Self:
How best can I serve our spiritual evolution today?
I felt that doing the Neff meditation was in service of our collective spiritual evolution. We affect each other, especially when we are doing a conscious practice that sets the intention of feeling affection and kindness towards others.
So what do you say?
You can use the two words, others’ and our, interchangeably. Sometimes you need to acknowledge that you and another individual are indeed separate entities. In that recognition you can take transactional action between the two of you, all the time knowing that what benefits the one benefits the both and the all.
Got it.
So can we play with this today? Can we answer the question?:
I can psychically psimplify my day by asking my Self:
How best can I serve others’/our spiritual evolution today?
Help me take the self-seriousness or self-importance out of it.
Well, as your beloved Mum said, “It’s got to be fun!”
Aha. Great guidance! It should feel light and joyful. And JOINy.
These are my thoughts:
- Get my house in order – do the routine and be dressed
- Be ready to snip the old..
- Think of who is in need today.. Who is suffering or sad. Reach out warmly!
It all makes me baffled. Guide me please.
Here is the guidance you are looking for. It’s about seeking a new flavour of wholeyness. Getting whole means attending to all our own needs – food, shelter, stability – with as much simplicity as possible. When those needs are attended to, then we StartTheWork of the day: SOSE. It’s fun! Much more fun than dragging our own needs out all day.
So ask yourself: What do I need to do to meet my basic needs today? Then do those things. Then see what’s on the horizon for SOSE. But use focus, and psychic psimplicity.
Ok well I need to do my daily routine.
Prescribe it to yourself then.
AT’s Daily Routine @ 03apr21
- QT (Plan + DoDs + Meditation) @7am
- Body Hour (Qigong + Shower + Dress) @8am
- Decksfast (Clear the decks + Breakfast) @9am
- SOSE [Serving Our Spiritual Evolution] @10-1pm
- Walk & Talk Lunch Hour @1-3pm
- SOSE [Serving Our Spiritual Evolution] @3-6pm
- Home Hour (Family comms + Supper + Home tidy) @6pm
- Relax with G. @7-9pm
- Bedwards Hour (Kitchen clear + 15m IG + Ready for bed) @9pm
- Reading & Lights out @10pm
Good. Let’s do it. And then let’s start Serving Our Spiritual Evolution
I am a couple of hours behind because it’s the weekend… And I had a late night. I was drinking.
You want us to judge the drinking, and condemn. We won’t do that. But we will say: wow, imagine if this routine was yours 365 days a year. How joyous and fulfilling and easy would that be?!
I hear you! I agree. Ty. Let’s go.
I am serving our spiritual evolution