THE NARRATIVE WATER IN WHICH WE SWIM

“We are like fish and our stories are the water in which we swim. Their effect on our lives goes unseen unless we are willing to put our heads above the water and choose to leap into a different pool.”

 

2020 started beautifully for me.

Mainly because I had taken myself on retreat in the mountains of my birth. My companions once again became the trees, the mountain, and the sunrise and sunset each day. The rhythm of my days was subtle as I moved with the weather and the temperature. I became part of the landscape and the land became part of me. It was a time of blissful quiet and reconnection.

 

As we moved out of the ‘teen’ years and into our 20’s, I felt a sense of emerging awareness, responsibility and reconnection moving across the planet like a wave of optimism. I visioned, I dreamed, I imagined, and I set intentions with my husband and family for the next decade. As a family we felt excited and energised by the possibilities emerging for us and for people across the planet. We were swimming into uncharted territory, and it felt regenerative.

 

Then I came out of my cocoon, started to speak to people again and my perception shifted.

 

Many were not feeling the same sense of clarity and transformation that I was. In fact, there seemed to be a lot of fear, trepidation and anxiety in the collective field that I stepped back into gradually as January began to take hold.

 

Rather than getting pulled into the muddy waters of other people’s stories, I allowed myself to be present with their emotional reactions whilst maintaining the integrity of my own inner story.

 

I practiced compassionate witnessing and noticed how it felt when my narrative of optimism merged into theirs and created a confluence of narrative waters.

 

Sometimes, this was healthy and sometimes not. One thing I noticed was that fear does not like to be challenged for its validity. Sometimes I had to literally go for a walk, take a bath or do some yoga to shake off the tumultuous emotions splashed on to me from others.

 

Of course, there is nothing new or wrong in this.

Humans have been merging our narrative lens’ for millennia and influencing each other’s beliefs for better or worse.

 

We do however have a choice as to which stories we accept as our own and which narrative waters we drink from and wash ourselves with.

 

Choice breeds new realities. Immediately.

It’s that simple.

 

Whether we choose to swim in the muddy, stagnating waters of fear is a choice.

 

Whether we choose to enter into a clear pool of peace and surrender stories is a choice.

 

Whether we choose to become a flowing stream of rational optimism is a choice.

 

And whether we choose to recognise that we are one drop of love and consciousness in an ocean of interconnection and interbeing is also a choice.

 

Or perhaps a remembering.

 

Which story will you choose in 2020?

 

I know where the current of my narrative is heading and there is as much light as there is dark.

 

For me this isn’t about ignoring the challenges we are facing but embracing them with a sense of purpose and strength rather than fear and panic.

 

It is for this reason that I am putting together a number of retreats, online journeys and mythic adventures this year so that those of you who are craving clear waters can find your path towards them.

 

All you need to do is choose your story above that of others.

Every day.

Every moment.

Every breath.

 

I’ll see you in the ocean.