Celebrating Life

Ask yourself this; 'Are you a human being having a spiritual experience, or a spiritual being having a human experience?'

This is a common question for those of the Buddhist faith or posed by people who are on a spiritual path.

It comes to my mind frequently and gives pause for reflection. As I sit here at work, at a time when I should be preparing my quality improvement workplan for the responsible gambling fund as part of our quality management system, I am distracted by these thoughts prompting this blog. I am often distracted or reflective at work these past weeks as I think back on my journey with Lifeline and where and what I have learned and how I have grown and what I am taking from this work.

For those of you who are not already aware, I have been offered and have accepted a position with the NSW Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care. I will tell you about this new and exciting page in my life at another time. But for now, suffice to say that I am trying to wind things up and close off projects which I have currently open and prepare my departure and hand-over. Which, as you can expect, means that I have been reflective on this experience for some time.

I have been also thinking about my own spiritual journey and some significant things that have happened to me in the last few years. Really, dealing with the mystery of life and the ambiguity and the confusion of trying to get some understanding of why life, what is it all about, and why am I here. Having had these 3 1/2 years with Lifeline has created a strong and meaningful connection with my work and with me, as Jen.

A couple of years ago something very significant happened to me, a change in my thinking, a change in my philosophy, something that turned everything around for me. I was reading Stephen Covey's book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. On one of the pages, I mentally underlined and then I circled a sentence, a quotation, and I thought, "This is interesting."

It was almost a lost piece. I went back to it, and I went back to it, and I went back to it. And, finally I absorbed it; I took it in, and it changed everything. And it helped connect all of the experiences I have just alluded to. It was a statement by Teilhard de Chardin, "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but we are spiritual beings having a human experience," and once that idea penetrated into my consciousness, I realised that life was really quite different from what I had thought it to be.

But I am not a human being having a spiritual journey, but I really am first and foremost, as are all other people, spiritual beings, who for whatever reason are given the experience of human existence.

With this corollary as an accepted given, it is incredible how the peace and joyousness of life is laid at your feet.

For example, when you can find things to be grateful for in your everyday life a state of peacefulness and contentment is easier to be accomplished. Everyday before I get out of bed I ask myself, "What am I grateful for in my life today?". If I have a hard time answering this question I ask, "What could I be grateful for in my life right now?" If you are willing to give yourself permission, you can listen to your heart without judgement, without hesitation and the answer becomes clear.

Which is why I often will say that I celebrate our small victories.

One such small victory for me has been learning to practice forgiveness. I have learned that as long as we harbour any anger or resentment towards another we will not be at peace. I am certain that there are many thousands and millions of people out there for whom this is a given and they have the inherent ability to do this and experience joy in their life without deliberation. For me, this has been a learned response.

Silently bless that person or situation and release the anger and resentment you have. Do this as often as it takes to feel a sense of peace over the situation. When we learn to forgive our lives become more happy and less stressful.

Further again, the journey that I have been on with Lifeline has led me to begin to eliminate fear from my life- I practice living and enjoying the present moment. I have learned that when we live in the present moment fear cannot reside in our thoughts because fear is concern over what might happen in the future. When you begin to feel fear that is because you are putting your attention on an event that has not happened. When this happens I have begun to learn to bring myself back to the present.

Lifeline, then has taught me many things. You have the power to reinvent yourself.

The difficulty lies in the objectivity and honesty you need about a very subjective topic– yourself. You’re fairly objective about improving or upgrading things, like your car, or your stereo, or your golf clubs. Reinventing yourself requires a similar objective assessment of the most important thing of all. Your life. Buying a hybrid car, or a cutting-edge computer or communication system, or changing investment choices, are often unconscious substitutes for the inner signals urging you to change something about your life. It just seems easier to do something in the outer world.

I have learned that when I'm aware of inner messages about my life, there’s a far bigger pay-off than any worldly thing or activity can return. You increase your options by being aware of the reasons you’re choosing what you do, but more importantly, you are able to distinguish between a moment of pleasure and a moment of quantum change. Reinventing yourself, is something that Lifeline has enabled me to be open to. Purely by giving myself permission to do these things and being open to experience them fully.

I have, then, a lot to be grateful for. And my involvement with Lifeline has been that catalyst.

So, dear bloggers, thank you for the opportunity to express these reflections as now I feel as though I may continue with the work at hand; and get this workplan completed!

Keep sparkling!