HAWAII – VALUABLE LESSON UNPACKED

If you read my previous blog piece, Hawaii -Valuable Lessons Learned, then you might remember I mentioned a future in-depth blog regarding a further unpacking of a lesson that I learned while there. If not, the pertinent line is, “It was the fact that even though I was 4,000 miles away from everything I’ve ever known and completely outside my element, I was still me.” This was a simple but powerful revelation for me. “No matter where you go, there you are” – The Adventures of Buckaroo Bunzai Across the 8th Dimension. You cannot escape from yourself. I can’t begin to count the times in my life where I’ve been in such a black mood that I’ve given my family the warning sign to stay clear because even I wish I wouldn’t have to be around myself let alone expose them to my foul mood. People try to find an escape from their inner landscapes with all sorts of things; drugs, work, mindless busyness, material purchases, travel, etc. We think we can fix what is going on inside of ourselves with external things, and if those don’t help, we try to drown/numb/ignore/suppress/repress those that we feel we cannot fix and move on. I can’t begin to tell you how many times in my life I’ve said something along the lines of, “if only external factor x would happen, then I would be happier”. For instance, “If only the sun would come out, then I know my mood would lift. These clouds have me feeling tired and gloomy.” Or how about something along the lines of, “if only I had the stereotypical American dream: perfect spouse, 2+ kids, family pet, and suburban home, then I know I would feel accomplished, content, and happy.” If Aladdin’s Genie appeared to you right now and asked what you’re three wishes were, what would you ask for? More than likely, it would be whatever your external factor is that you believe is the key to making all your dreams come true. Whether that be the oceanfront property, winning the lottery, the mansion, the flashy red Porsche, etc., it doesn’t matter. Once the wishes were granted and you had all that you thought you’d ever needed to be happy, you’d find out that it didn’t change anything for you on the inside. After the newness of it all wore off, you’d realize that you were still the same person you were before the wishes were granted and still carry the same discontentment in your heart that you’d had before. In today’s culture, you might then think that this is because you want an even bigger house, more cars, etc. when in reality, it’s because these material things will never and can never be what you are seeking. What is it that you want? Why do you want it? Will that truly make your life better? The truth of the matter is that instead of focusing on accumulating all of these external factors that we just ‘know’ will make us happy, healthy, content, instead, we should be focusing internally first. We will never be truly in a blissful state of contentment until we do the internal work needed to truly understand who we are and what we are seeking. Anything less will be a temporary fix. It won’t be long, and the excitement and joy of those new external items will fade, and you will once again be left seeking the next bigger and better thing to bring that contentment back. I know this from firsthand experience. Honestly, if you let yourself really think about it, I’m sure you can too.  

Imagine for a moment that you are this reusable straw above.  In this example, you were created with the sole purpose of bringing water from a cup to a person’s mouth. This mission of bringing the essence of life, water, to an individual is your only purpose. Does it matter to you what shape the cup is that you are in? Does the cup need to be broad, long, short, skinny to accomplish your goal? Does it matter to you where the cup is located? From the straw’s perspective, would it truly make a difference if the cup were in a cold/warm climate, rich/poor environment, business/personal place? One might say, sure it does. If the straw in which I am residing were to be located in a hot tropical climate, more people would be prone to drink water from me to stay hydrated. If the cup and I were located in a small Oasis shop in the middle of the desert, then we would undoubtedly accomplish our mission for anyone that stumbled upon us. As we are mostly made up of water, water is essential for human survival. Humans everywhere need that in which you were created to bring to them. Therefore, it does not matter what type of environment the cup is located in. From the straw’s perspective, do you think it matters what gets put into the cup? Of course, it does! How are you going to fulfill your purpose of bringing water to those in need if you are filled up with sand? Do you think that you would feel the same if instead of water, you were used to carry soda, juice, or alcohol? No, you wouldn’t feel the same. You would feel slightly better than if you were turned into the art display and filled with sand because at least you would have a small percentage of water flowing through you, but you would never truly be satisfied until you were used for your intended purpose. I believe we all have souls inside of our bodies. Our souls are like the straw in the example above, and our bodies are the cup. Our souls chose to incarnate into our physical bodies to learn further and grow. I believe that as souls before we came to be incarnated in the physical form on Earth, we created a plan for what kind of lessons we wanted to experience and what our primary mission was going to be while here. Until we do the internal work to find who we are at our core being so that we can live our lives in alignment with that and our soul’s purpose, we will always be searching for the temporary fix that brings us the short-term happiness and contentment that we seek. Do not misunderstand; external factors can make a difference in your life, but these should be considered secondary, and you should never rely on these factors to make you happy. Once you find peace, contentment, joy from within, you’ll be taking your power back.  Do you know how empowering it is in life to be able to say that you are great regardless of all the external factors going on in your life at any given moment on any day? To have the peace, confidence, and absolute certainty that no matter what happens today, you know to the depths of your soul that you are perfectly fine. This alignment brings with it such a deep inner peace and oneness that it helps you to realize that you are never alone. You are always connected with your God as well as all of the other souls in existence, and they give their love and support to you all the time. To me, living consistently in alignment with my soul’s purpose has become my ultimate goal. It’s beyond beautiful. In my opinion, the rewards are worth the internal work. The best part is, you can start right where you are. The next time you find yourself trying to make things feel better by buying material things or distracting yourself with one of your other vices, stop and dare to dig deeper. Ask yourself what’s going on and what might be a better alternative to heal that which ails you.

Love,

Yara Rose