A Place of Divine Revelation

I just got back from 5 days in Utah. I've been going to the desert in late spring for almost a decade. There is just something about it's call that I can never seem to resist. The ancients called the desert the place of divine revelation. It's that, but it's more than that. Life is very condensed in the desert. The roots of living things hold on to that last drop of water and the flower hoards its moisture by only appearing in the early morning and late afternoon. As Clarissa Pinkola Estes writes, "Life in the desert is small but brilliant". The desert is not lush like a forest or jungle. It is sparse, dry, wind blown and sun-drenched. It is intense and mysterious and most of what occurs goes on underground. I need periods of living a desert life: times of being small on the surface, but wild and intense underground. And I have to admit, wonderful things can come from that sort of psychic distribution. In the desert I am drawn to all in life that sustains me, I am drawn to the underground; that mysterious, lush and wild place of the soul. It is what happens there that makes the spectacle of the flower possible.

Awaken the Sleeping Spirits

The real work of this life is not what we do from 9 to 5. The real work is to allow ourselves to be who we already are and have what we already have. The real work is to be passionate, be holy, be wild, be irreverent. To laugh and cry until you awaken the sleeping spirits, until the ground of your being leaves and the universe comes flooding in.

-Geneen Roth

Anima Mundi

The breath, the life, the spirit, the soul of the world... anima mundi.

There are those who believe the world is a living spiritual being.

This was understood by the ancient philosophers and the alchemists who referred to the spiritual essence of the world as the anima mundi, the “Soul of the World.” They regarded the World Soul as a "pure ethereal spirit diffused throughout all nature, the divine essence that embraces and energizes all life in the universe."

Plato believed this. "This world is a living being endowed with a soul and intelligence... a single visible living entity containing all other living entities." Many of the artists during the Reanissance believed this. They created as if nature was "permeated with life, divinity and numinous mystery." (I like how that sounds!) Carl Jung believed this. It is his thinking that there is a divine light that exists in the very depths of our psyches. My friend Jenny believes this. In her latest blog she writes, "everything is holy". Right on, Jenny! You're in good company.

The Soul's Quiet Voice

We hear the word soul in song lyrics and read about it in books and poems--it has been analyzed and scrutinized by songwriters, poets and researchers throughout history. Though soul may seem mysterious, it is hardly inaccessible. It is with us all the time, quietly waiting to be discovered. The soul is not only ephemeral but fundamentally ordinary and familiar. It is available to us at all times and exists in all things. Soul speaks to us through iamgery, imagination and intuition. It is our task to be awake to its calling.

"There is a great spectacle, and that is the sea.
There is a greater spectacle than the sea, and that is the sky.
There is yet a greater spectacle than the sky, and that is the interior of the soul."
-Victor Hugo

Diligent Joy

Elizabeth Gilbert in her book, Eat, Pray, Love writes about happiness. She uses the phrase, "diligent joy". Gilbert says that people universally tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will maybe descend upon you like good weather if your fortunate enough. But, she goes on to say, that's not how happiness works. "Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you've achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it, you must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don't, you will leak away your innate contentment."

This focus on Deli gent Joy is, not merely a self-preserving and self-benefiting act, but also a generous gift to the world. Clearing out all your misery gets you out of the way. You cease being an obstacle, not only to yourself but to anyone else. Only then are you free to serve and enjoy other people. Only then can your soul hold tight to its good attainments.

Coaching with Spirit

The Coach Training Alliance speaks to spiritual coaching:

Webster’s dictionary defines spirit as: “the immaterial intelligent or sentient part of a person.” It is the wisdom within each of us, beyond years and experience. Its origins are mysterious, and many believe that our spirit lives on beyond our body in a non-physical plane.

For some, spirit is indelibly linked with the Divine. Saint Teresa called spirit “the life of God within us.” It is thought that our spirit resides in the center of our bodies near our hearts. Sometimes we refer to it as our heart, receiving messages from there that have the power to awaken our aliveness – “in my heart I know . . . “

“Spirit” comes from the Latin word spiritus, meaning breath. HW Longfellow called it “A vital breath of more ethereal air.” It may be that our spirit is the life force that generates vitality in our bodies: esprit de corps – the spirit of the body, the breath of life.

In the ancient roots of the English language, there is an understanding of spirit that in our culture often gets overlooked. At a stressful pace, we live each day running down tasks. Most of our focus and energy has literally gone to our heads. We tend to give more value to information that comes from our brains, finding their great powers of analysis and judgment. But this is also where fear and anxiety are born, emotions that keep us dispirited – small and weak.

With even a cursory look, spirit can be found in all living beings. It is a great power center just waiting to give direction and meaning to our lives. Whether we believe it to be a connection with God, the source of all life, or each person’s innate wisdom, spirit is a resource that we can draw upon.

Mandala

The word "mandala" is from the classical Indian language, Sanskrit. Loosely translated it means "circle". It represents wholeness. As a coach, I use this concept as a guide in my practice; it is a concept that provokes powerful questions. What does it mean to be whole? How does this goal bring me closer to connectedness? Alan Seal has said that he believes all coaching is spiritual coaching. Spiritual coaching is about wholeness; bringing clients into connection and balance. Found across cultures, in nature and in art, the mandala is a symbol of the infinite potential within all of us.