Ikigai + Seasons
“When it's all love, all must be love. Nothing must interfere: love conquers all.” Joseph Campbell, Reflections of The Art of Living
That quote is holding me right now. Let love in so it can take shape, transform and heal. It's just so simple, and so beautiful.
I've been reflecting recently on where I am in my various seasons of life. And also, how can it all be more loving, and more wild. I think it comes down to being more me. And welcoming a true acceptance and reverence for life.
I see the “natural” order of the seasons more or less as:
Childhood: Cared for and guided
Adolescence: Carefree and explorative|
Young adulthood: Formative pursuits of the soul and heart
Pre-middle age: Increased responsibility and tending to
What comes after that? If you're there, tell me. I think that staying connected to who you are, your Ikigai, then leads you on to wisdom-inspired, creative and soul flourishing living in older years. This is my hope for myself.
If we travel through seasons disconnected from who we are, holding onto patterns we have outgrown, ruled by fear and find any kind of presence impossible; then there comes the tension in aging. The resistance. The gripping to what has passed, the un-lived life. The disappointments, frustrations.
But if we accept. If we honour how sacred this path is. If we love and let love conquer. If we quite literally take responsibility for ourSELF. Then getting older, moving through the seasons is actually a heart-wrenchingly beautiful, life-affirming experience.
Each season is wild if you are in flow with your Ikigai. Even the one that is buried in changing nappies, endless admin and daily structural monotony - even more so these ones! The truer you are to self, the wilder it becomes. The less you long for a time that is not now, the less you look outside yourself. The more you author the story of your own life.
I've been consciously softening my edges recently. And this has led to more space in my life. And unexpected, but wonderful new things have come in to fill that space. My somatic coaching practice has become busier as sweet souls have stepped forward to do this profound and important work. Below I'm sharing some of the high-level reasons people are choosing to work with me, with very simple invitations in case you find yourself there and it resonates:
If today you are…
Anxious: Support your body to feel safe again
Exhausted: Learn to receive rest in your bones
Overwhelmed: Reconnect with your feet and find the ground
Grieving: Build loving capacity to hold the pain alongside awareness
Lost: Welcome it, make the experience sacred
Wondering: Build rituals to connect to your truth
Angry: Be angry, and also, look to the light
If your body is your home, what needs tending to?
Don’t worry about solving, releasing or fixing. Just listen to the part of you that wants to feel cosy, loved and at home in your body.
