When advertising my Conversation Cafés recently and posting to various pages on facebook I wanted to promote 'The Art Of Sacred Speech' as being a part of that offering. In my haste however to get my articles and postings out I realise I had actually typed 'The Art Of Scared Speech', all too late.
There was perhaps more truth in this Freudian slip than I first realised, for in my journey to date it is arguable that I have been able to perfect the art of scared speech more so than that of the sacred. Indeed in this very article I seem to type the former more frequently than the latter even when meaning to type the word sacred itself, so easy is it to make that mistake. Perhaps this is reminiscent of me living the life that I have up to date that has often had a leaning towards the more fearful polarity of scared than that of the more loving, sacred, living a small life rather than one big enough to support my full self.
So what in typing the word scared and the word sacred determines whether they fall with their correct meaning or not? Actually there is an infinitesimal time difference between the two fingers hitting the keyboard which decides which of the second and third letters finish in the correct order, but in that moment be it through the human mind or that of the divine, there in lies a choice of what comes next.
At a similar time last week to when you are reading this email, as part of a personal development programme I was a part of, I was emerging from a night spent out in a forest alone, with just a bivvy bag, badly fitting sleeping bag, roll mat and 2 way torch for company. The torch was two way. in the fact it had the normal white option forcing nature away from me (scared mode) and a green alternative inviting it closer (sacred mode).
The experience was made all the more acute by the fact that rumour had it that something really wild had been spotted near where I was camped out in the not too distant past. It was the first time that I had slept out without a tent in my life. I say sleep, but that is something I most certainly didn't do as a mere twig snapping in any proximity of where I was made me create monsters in the shadows, whether they were there or not. I have never been so scared in all my life at the possibility of meeting the true wild, on the outside or within.
However in the very moment of my severest panic I realised I had a choice to remain fearful of everything in this blackest of woods or chose to love the situation I found myself in, immediately bringing compassion to myself, which in the flick of a switch from white to green automatically led me into the realm of the sacred.
In every moment we live our lives, whether we feel we are in the deepest, darkest forest with the wild screaming at our every sense, or when we reside within the comfort of our own home and the padded furnishings we retreat to, we have a choice to view it as something to be fearful of or more loving.
In the picture that greets you into this email today there are two very similarly wooded scenes as close to being the same as I could get, one looks foreboding and the other benevolent and in the middle where the V resides there is a fulcrum surrounded by white light. For when we raise our awareness levels to a point, where we can bring mindfulness to every situation we can determine how we want to view things and where we wish to be in the world and herein lies the beauty of the choice itself.
If you care to comment on this blog why not do so
here. If you wish to find out how to live more of your life in the realm of the sacred rather than that of the scared why not
contact me now, or if you would like to hear me speak about 'Speaking Your Truth - Public Speaking and Conversation Cafés' why not join me at the next
SDBC breakfast meeting at Lavender House, Ashburton, Devon on Thursday 16th May.
Otherwise until next time.
Much love Sx.
