The Glory in the Ordinary
I'm often asked what we should be doing differently or what/who we should be aspiring to be in this time when our collective consciousness and energy is said to be ascending.
Although we're often told that this is a unique and spectacular point in our history (and it is!), every Age had its own great challenges and great triumphs. Its inhabitants resonated with the energetic frequencies within that era.
Here's the thing...it is a time of increased conscious awareness and upgraded energetic sensitivity right now because we already are who and what is needed to rise up to the occasion. Throughout history, circumstances have unfolded and opportunities arisen when the conditions were ripe for those events to occur. We have magnetized this moment to us. We beckoned it out of the quantum, dialing its number from the cosmos with our already expanded awareness and commitment to change.
We need simply be the highest and best versions of ourselves in every moment of every day. That is what is needed. It is a deceptively easy recipe in a world that challenges us at every turn, but we are the essential ingredients in this delectable dish of destiny.
I recently came upon some letters written between World War II soldiers and their families. I wanted to glimpse a time in our history when families were separated, when loved ones overseas faced unmistakable evil and yet life on the home front demanded to go on.
In reading the correspondence, I was mesmerized by the mundane nature of the conversations. With bombs dropping, food rationed, alliances forging and victory uncertain, life, love and connection persevered.
Soldiers asked their families about vegetable gardens, house repairs and the weather. One soldier regretted not packing more pinto beans. Knowing their letters would be read, they made sure to mention their mothers' fruitcake in hopes that the postal service would allow a special shipment.
Facing fear, death and uncertainty, families seemed to crave the ordinary moments of everyday life.
Yet how often do we search the horizon for what may be coming rather than focusing our gaze on our own footsteps? There is glory within our ordinary daily tasks...tending the garden, visiting friends, walking the dog. We can shine through simplicity, anchoring in heaven onto earth.
I'm reminded of the letter C.S. Lewis wrote in 1948 in response to the question, "How are we to live in an atomic age?":
In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”
"This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together...let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts. They may break our bodies...but they need not dominate our minds."
I've heard people mention a lot of "If/Then's". "When economic improvements happen, then I can do more". "If certain individuals are elected, then we'll be on the right path." "If Extra Dimensionals visit or if the government allows more disclosure, then we'll really be getting somewhere."
No one, no other thing, no entity - is going to do the work for us. It is our honored responsibility to sand down our own rough edges, patch up our own potholes and do the physical, emotional and energetic work to Be Our Best Selves. The simple truth of it is that if we weren't equipped to do the work to bring about change and a collective up-leveling, then we wouldn't be here at this time.
Yes, we absolutely can and should learn, grown and develop but I think we too often get distracted by The Next Big Thing that we think can help us go faster, get there more quickly, or bypass the hard, introspective self development work that needs to be done. There are no shortcuts along the energetic high road. Find those tools that resonate with you and commit yourself to learning how to use them ethically and skillfully...and then live your best version of yourself, day in and day out.
What gloriously ordinary tasks in your daily life help you shine more brightly and confidently? What raises your vibration?
