The purpose of our Life?

How will you serve the World? What are you good at that could serve others?

"... the effect on others is the most valuable currency there is (...) that piece we're after is beyond our persona, alter-ego... let the armour go. The need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world. Risk being seen in all of your glory! (...) Our eyes are not just viewers, they are also projectors, running a second story (...) and we have two choices, Love or Fear... choose Love. (...) all there is is now, right now."

Choose... and go for it. Focus. Believe. Trust.

Integral

In nowadays it's getting more and more often that the word Integral is out there. People are choosing to eat integral, wear, read, listen integral stuff. You'll hear/read the word Integral in this and that almost as often as we can hear the word "baby" in a song.

... ok, it can mean a bunch of things too. In a sentence, Integral shows up when we want to highlight something that is necessary to make a whole complete; essential or fundamental.

So this thought leads me into asking, how can we also become/feel Integral?

Remember when you were a little brat, with no distinction between what was inside or outside of yourself, when there was absolutely no question about being or not accepted by the world, you were, simple as that. No need to cover up feelings... wholeness, integrity.

But as adults, who really feels integral with the world? Why as we grow up do we learn that it might not be safe to express our true identity, feelings and beliefs.

Everyone has some piece of him/herself that it's hidden from the world, and we do our best to keep it that way. We try to play a role that is acceptable. But that gap, between reality and self perception, usually leads to some pain, some regret, some sadness... We want to show up in the world as our true self, and leave this world feeling successful in that.

The desire to show up, to be more in the world with our true value, our truthness, with our true gifts, a not divided Life, that is fulfillment, and we all know how much better we get to be in society, be it in your work, your family or relationship, when we are free in our mind and spirit.

Again, connection is only possible when we show up in the world as we are, and not as we think others expect us to be.

"The heart is the path to wisdom because it dares to be vulnerable in the presence of power"

― 

Terry Tempest Williams

Let's be Integral in our choices. The world is full of good intentions, but if we don't actually do them, what good are they? We're not here just to be storytellers of other's lives.

Each of us has value. I have value, you have value, the person in front of you has value.

Feel your Heart, for it's really the place to understand what's worth fighting for... We can come up with lots of theories about this or that, but our Heart knows best where we should channel our energy.

Lets be Brave and grow our own capacity to express our deepest humanity, especially in places where it seems unwelcome.

Are we fully present in the world with our Integrity? 

It's not about perfection! It's about showing up "naked", with our natural humanity. Nobody is born with an empty self, but we can end up empty...

I wish there were more safe places for people to express their true selves. There's a voice of truth inside each of us, soulfullness. But we fear. We fear we might get fired, we fear we might lose friends or partners if we show ourselves completely. But we are beings before our "doings" or "status".

We want to be seen, respected, loved. Can you truly say, I Love you?

“Like a wild animal, the soul is tough, resilient, resourceful, savvy, and self-sufficient: it knows how to survive in hard places. I learned about these qualities during my bouts with depression. In that deadly darkness, the faculties I had always depended on collapsed. My intellect was useless; my emotions were dead; my will was impotent; my ego was shattered. But from time to time, deep in the thickets of my inner wilderness, I could sense the presence of something that knew how to stay alive even when the rest of me wanted to die. That something was my tough and tenacious soul.”
― 

Parker J. Palmer

Optimal state of Mind

Most of the time one wonders why does the mind persist in staying sad, in quitting, in being confused and going mad! But what if we asked the other way around... how does the mind manage to stay normal, despite the multiple processes and changes it goes through? We're restless... some get to meditate, but I dare to say that not so many of us are able to do it, to peacefully quiet the mind and heart.

Scientist will call these lesser than optimal states of mind as possible non optimal configurations... Indeed, they are non-optimal.

But we have an awesome power that too often is undermined by its lack of structure, ruling and consistency: Imagination.

“One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision.”

_

Bertrand Russel

Imagination allows us to create a different reality, empowers by surpassing what might hurt us and pull us down through imagining that impossible things can be possible, and they can... it's a whole new world that opens up in front of our mind eyes.

We can change... we can overcome and comeback. We can change, but to do that we can't believe in the same things we were taught to believe. We have to listen to our silliest laugh, to our trickiest smile, to our fantasy of being completely seduced by those "silly" ideas that come up into our attention which, in pure cowardness, we prefer to quiet them down.

Care less about what you will look like if you do this or that. Make it for yourself, for your own pleasure. Allow yourself to be delighted and then share! Yes, share with thankfulness for Life's amazing opportunities to experience beauty, to learn and grow.

Unfortunately we are taught too early to play in a certain way, within certain boundaries or we might risk loneliness, frustration and of course, punishment. So we keep on living respecting all the learnt rules without ever questioning. Why should we respect or even love another person besides the obvious ones... You must have your space and I have mine. Is this what you call belief?

What can we learn if we don't dare to break some "rules", if we don't dare to speak our mind, if we don't question and allow our imagination to open new "doors of perception".

I dare you to break the rules and desire. Desire, and feel pleasure.

"The human soul is hungry for beauty… When we experience the Beautiful, there is a sense of homecoming. Some of our most wonderful memories are beautiful places where we felt immediately at home. We feel most alive in the presence of the Beautiful for it meets the needs of our soul."

_

John O’Donohue

We are always haunted by the myth of our potential, of what we might have it in ourselves to be or do… We share our lives with the people we have failed to be. Let's stop living frustrated for not being the amazing version of ourselves and let's return to that kid that ran and laughed simply, unequivocally (we didn't even know what that meant!), who cared because he/she could feel when someone just like him was feeling fear, pain or embarrassment. We were no more or less that the boy or girl sitting by our side. We were and we had fun.

"If somebody treats you with unkindness, it’s likely they have endured similar treatment in the past from others, and are only repeating unconscious patterns in search of a love they cannot find. They will continue to repeat until they wake up from their nightmare of projection, and truly see who you are, who they are, who we all are.
An excuse? No.
A way to begin to find compassion for them, to stop taking their behaviour so personally and so seriously, to begin to break the cycle of violence? Perhaps. And that ‘perhaps’ is everything when it comes to loving each other."
—

 Jeff Foster