Keep It Simple, Make It Mythic
Dear Ones,
I wanted to share this piece of writing that was part of a writer's summit back in May. It is a little longer than my usual blog posts, but I do hope you enjoy it.
Every year between the Winter Solstice and St. Brigid’s Day I go behind the veils, spend time in the dark embrace of winter, and just listen for what my Inner Wisdom has to say. Unlike most people “out there” I am not creating big visions, goals, action items, resolutions, or to-do lists on January 1st. I do a minimal amount of “external” work to serve my clients, and only that which was visioned into and planted in the previous spring and fall. I am not trying to put out to the world a bunch of NEW things during this time. I operate in a much more rhythmic way that is in harmony with nature and how our internal landscapes are naturally designed to function. The visions and actions come later, and the seeds get planted in the spring when we are at our most fertile.
But this year, this year is different, for each and every one of us on a global collective level. We are having a very collective experience, and an extremely individual one at the same time. My normal time of re-emergence that is in harmony with the seasons, is not happening in its normal rhythm, and yet nature is still doing her thing of emergence and fertility. Although, I feel a little kerfuffled because of what is happening during this pandemic I must keep reminding myself what my Inner Wisdom was whispering to me during my behind the veils time. And what my directive for this year is…and it may not have been as whisper as much as deep call, to KEEP IT SIMPLE, MAKE IT MYTHIC.
Now sitting here somewhere around day 40 of our Stay-at-Home Order I have come to realize that this was not only a deep soul calling for myself, but was a message for me to pay attention, because we are all being called to keep things simple, and we for damned sure are in a collective initiation of mythic proportions. Now the questions that are arising for me and that I invite you to ponder on are:
How do I plan to write my mythic story during this time?
What story do I want to tell on this other side of this?
What is most important to me? Where can I separate the wheat from the chaff and focus my energy only on what really matters? And what support structures do I need to have in place to manage my energy?
How can I find the magic in the mundane world and the simple things? And more importantly what am I willing to let go of, and stop making things so complicated?
These are the questions I am exploring and inviting you to do the same. And the big question for me, how can I keep it simple and tell a mythic story at the same time? I feel like these can be one and the same if we follow the journey of creating an epic story and life based on the real life experiences of those of us who live on the ground, in the day to day, connected to the Divine and the stars but not living in the ascension and never coming down to Earth. I believe in creating myth and legendary story from the human experience and dancing with the Divine, including spending time in both the shadow and the light. And right now, many of us are feeling like we are deep in the shadows. I believe we create our stories out of the weaving of the fabric of being the heroines of our own ordinariness. And I believe the owning and telling of our stories emerges out of a place of acceptance, surrender, and releasing control, especially to the shadow parts within us….and the shadows of the external world. And this is not an easy journey, and it is certainly not one filled with rainbows and unicorns, but a journey that takes you into the shadows and back into the light, over and over again, and a journey that takes you into the mystery and to love that place. When we do that, we take a look at what is left, and it is our humanity in our purest and most simple form. And out of that, if you are brave enough to take the journey is how you can write your own mythic story and come to realize what you are here on this planet to do, your Sacred Assignment in this life. So, we are going to explore the questions together, because it is through inquiry that we access what is going on INSIDE. Please know however that I answer them from a place of knowing what I am here on this planet to do …which is to inspire. I can also say without a doubt the reason I have been able to stay in alignment throughout this pandemic is because I always use my Sacred Assignmentas a way to stay in my energetic integrity, I am watching the collective and seeing that those people who know why they are here on the planet at the most simplistic level are also staying aligned. And in my upcoming book and program Unearth Your Sacred Assignment, I guide you to discovering your assignment and how to use it as the compass that guides your life and gives you choice in how you want to live it.
Before I move on to pondering and answering the questions, I want to say that I am by no means of the camp that if you don’t learn a new language, write your Magnum Opus, or paint a museum masterpiece that you have no discipline now that you have time..because that is bullshit; this experience we are living through has nothing to do with discipline but has everything to do with devotion to yourself, your Divine nature, and the immediate world around you. First of all, not everyone has been granted the gift of time through this pandemic, and second some of us have been thrown into trauma triggers and all sorts of other stuff. But I AM here to catalyze you out of stagnation if that is where you are, I AM here to walk with you in grace for wherever you are. And I know for me that can change from moment to moment. And that is what I am seeing in the world as it stands right now. A lot of ebbs and flows, so let’s go with it instead of fight it…shall we? The invitation is to look at these questions from your lens, quiet yourself, take some deep breathes, speak the questions out loud and tap into yourself. See what comes up when you speak them, and then write the answers without overthinking them. You can always add more later, but just note whatever comes into your stream of consciousness. Then look at the answers with deep curiosity and keep adding more language to it or create a collage or piece of art to go with the questions.
How do I plan to write my mythic story during this time?
What story do I want to tell on this other side of this?
What is most important to me? Where can I separate the wheat from the chaff and focus my energy only on what really matters? And what support structures do I need to have in place to manage my energy?
How can I find the magic in the mundane world and the simple things? And more importantly what am I willing to let go of, and stop making things so complicated?
I am going to ask that you don’t let this question intimidate you. There are many definitions of “myth” out there, and there are libraries filled with resources on diving into myth and how it impacts us as humans. But to give contextI like this Merriam Webster definition - a usually traditional story of ostensiblyhistorical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon. I think we can say without a doubt that we are creating a history that has not even been written about yet, and that we can be of service to unfold how things will emerge and create practices that evolve from this experience that have never been done before, which lends itself to our last question. “How am I going to do things differently.”
And I combine it with “legend”when it comes to writing our own stories. A legend contains some facts and becomes exaggerated to the point that real people or events take on a "larger than life" quality.I blend these two things to create my own story. You are both a myth and a legend. You are “larger than life” in your own life. You can create a “myth” that becomes reality. This is not about untruths or being inauthentic. But it is about the story you want to write for your future that you cannot possible perceive bringing into reality right now. Except that you CAN!
What I am asking you to do is turn the mundane into magic and wisdom. There is a lot of wisdom to be had right now, and much of it is right in front of us. It doesn’t have to be esoteric or woo-woo, in fact right now we are living as grounded to the Earth as it gets, we are in survival mode. I am asking you during this time to look at those things you are doing to survive and tell legendary stories about them. Exaggerate them even. Kind of like our elders telling the story of walking five miles to school in the snow with no shoes; you get the idea. Except our story might be more like I lived through the pandemic and I traded vodka for toilet paper, and I was so desperate for entertainment that I watched the Tiger King…which is probably a truism. Make it funny, make it mythic, make it real and yet not real. This is an exercise of exploring how your psyche is really dealing with this present moment. And through the telling of it, there is healing.
This is your chance to open up to what is possible, no holds barred, most outrageous wild ass dream and life you can think of. It’s your chance to write that story and see how much of it you can bring into form, while at the same time letting go of any outcomes.
This question is a little more grounded in reality and perhaps even practicality. But a reminder that everything we do is a creation, and we create our stories. And only you are the author of your story. Do you want your story to be that you binge watched Netflix for two months, or do you want to make more of an impact in your life or the lives of others? Do you want your story to be one of fear or grace? Likely, our stories as we emerge into whatever is next will be a combination of both. There is grace in allowing yourself some down time, some spaciousness, some quiet, and YES even binge-watching Netflix. But let’s not stagnate and stay tuned out instead of tuned in. I am here as a catalyst and I am here to say that if you did get time and spaciousness during the pandemic,(I am fully aware that not everyone did….and I honor those that are working, those that are now homeschooling their children, or that did not suddenly get a whole lot of time on their hands, and if that is you I would encourage you to write your own story as well because you my love are a hero) but for those of us that did let’s use the time and spaciousness wisely, and NOT CHECK OUT, and continue to distract and not turn inward. Because giving ourselves the space to go inward and see what our heart and souls really desire, and to re-write our stories from THAT place has been the gift. But if we continue to tune out instead of tune in, then we are STILL not listening, we are still distracting ourselves from the fear of knowing who and what really lives inside of you, and what really wants to be created by you and through you. Right now, you might not be living your normal story of over-working, crushing goals or checking off the to-do lists that we constantly have hanging over us. We are so conditioned to look at success from some external viewpoint of checking things off a list, despite the list being rather meaningless and often filled with things that are not important to us AT ALL, it still can be scary to have NO LIST. However, now is your golden opportunity to define for yourself what success looks like, what leading a life of YOUR own making looks like, and what YOU CHOOSE to put on your list.
My story is going to include a lot of quiet, a lot of spaciousness to really look at what is important in my personal and business life. Let go of some long-held stories, and re-invent, re-envision, and re-imagine what the next version of my life and business will look like, and I can say it will look very different. It will be more potent, but with a lot less “doing”.
This is probably the biggest gift we will receive from this pandemic. Slowing down enough to see with both our inside eyes and our outside eyes what is really important to us, and what we have been spending our time and energetic resources on that have next to no positive impact on our lives, or the lives of our loved ones. Maybe through this you have learned that there is very little inspiring content on social media and its time YOU do something inspired. Maybe you have learned that forgetting about the to-do list and spending time REALLY BEING with yourself and your family is more important than a trip to Target for stuff you don’t need. Maybe you have learned you can’t do it all alone and have learned to ask for help. Looking at what is really important and what is sucking up your energy can be a humbling experience. Understanding you need support when you are normally the one always giving it can be even more humbling.
This is where we get to do things differently. Maybe for you (certainly for me) I have been looking at my own “waste” whether that is time, energy, and actual physical resources, literally noticing how much toilet paper I was overusing. Did you ever even conceive that we would be in that place? No, me neither, but that is the other gift we have received, taking a hard look at our own lifestyles. I am also taking a deep look at where my resources are going and what I am consuming, and by consuming I don’t just mean food, I mean information and other peoples’ stories. Who is getting my money, my time, my energy and is that in my highest good and the highest good of the planet? And saying no to that which doesn’t, whatever that means for you. That is how we make impact even in the smallest ways.
I don’t know about you, but I just love to over-complicate things. It’s as if the more difficult we make our lives or the more difficult and esoteric we make our spiritual practices the bigger the badge of honor we can wear when we manifest our intentions or have a moment of enlightenment. Rather than setting intentions that are more simple and yet more magical. Or finding the magic in the everyday Earthbound spiritual truths of just being, engaging our senses, noticing the natural world and honoring it.
You don’t need to run off to the jungle to do an Ayahuasca journey, or to speak in light language channeled from Metatron to have a deep spiritual experience. In fact, I would challenge that when we do those things in order to achieve some sense of Divine connection that we miss the Divine connections we have each and every moment, and then we find ourselves constantly seeking when the Divine is right there in front of us. The Divine is in the flower budding in your yard, she is in the rocks, the birds, he is in the laundry, and the dishes. And when we can be with the ordinary and find it extraordinary, that is when we find grace.
I personally am committing to letting go of making things harder than they have to be; in my sacred work, in my sacred relationships, and most importantly in my sacred inner world. I am just showing up to the beauty within me and around me and savoring every moment of it. I am saying no to anything that does not bring me a sense of alignment, groundedness, and joy. And when the shadows come up, I find the magic in those as well, and I find the mythic in the spaces in between. In fact, it is in those spaces in-between that we are always trying to fill up with the busy, to keep from being bored, keep from just being with our soul and listening to what it has to say. Why? Because we believe it is difficult to be with ourselves when the truth is that is the most simple and mythic place to be.
Love and Light,
Dina