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If you’ve ever been on an aeroplane during turbulence, you’ll know how unsettling it can be. Life itself can feel like that too, can’t it? You’re just going along, minding your own business, and then —whoosh!— the air currents become unstable, and you lose your centre!

 

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Recently, I published my book I Create My Day: simple and beautiful ways to create a nourishing life. At its heart, the message is about discovering spiritual grace. It provides the tools for, hopefully, creating less turbulence in your life, and for recognising that you have the inner tools and resources for navigating any turbulence you might fly into on any given day.

 

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For the most part, I have now created a life fairly free of turbulence. However, I live in a world that involves other humans, and this in itself offers just the ingredients that set faulty air currents into motion! I have, many times over the years, been left speechless by what appears, to my mind, a lack of awareness, consideration or respect between humans. For example, if someone says they’ll do something for you, or agrees to arrange something, and then they don’t. Why I still, after all these years, expect people to honour their commitments is beyond me. (laughing). We’re all wired differently, and while integrity, keeping one’s word, honouring sacred space, awareness, taking responsibility, etc., is something I adhere to, I am (still) learning that these are my values and not necessarily anyone else’s.

 

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Turbulence came into my yesterday from easily six different sources. I found myself reacting emotionally in ways that weren’t pleasant for my body, and at complete odds with the centred, balanced place within that I have strived to create more and more with each passing day. I found myself becoming increasingly angry because other people were acting in ways that were, at best, inconsiderate and selfish. But, you know what? The only person suffering was me.

 

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Do I feel any different today? Yes, I do, and this is because of two things:
1.) I gave thanks. I truly expressed gratitude for each of those situations, even though they are not what I expected or would have consciously chosen.

 

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2.) I remembered my golden rule of: every thought and feeling is a choice. No one can make you feel anything you don’t want to feel.

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So, yes, while I still have disbelief surrounding the way some people can be, I honour my well-being enough to ‘let it go’. Again and again, I come back to: what will be will be. What is, is.

 

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I Create My Day (paperback & Kindle)

 

It is so much nicer to fly when you see the clouds or country below you, and all is calm. Compared to the adrenalin rush and instability of turbulence, I know which I’d rather choose. I choose peace. I choose love. I choose calm. I choose forgiveness. And always, every single time, I choose gratitude.

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“Your daily life is your temple and your religion.”

Kahlil Gibran

Yesterday I asked myself: “Who is the most spiritual person you know?” I was rather surprised when no obvious person came to me, but had to laugh out loud when I saw Azaria’s face. For those of you who don’t know Azaria, she’s the main character in my novel, Sisters of the Silver Moon.

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I modelled Azaria’s physical characteristics on this lovely Danish hairdresser. I adore her open face.

I pondered our cultural notion of spirituality, and also why I’ve heard from women who say they want ‘to be like Azaria’. I was intrigued, but not surprised, that a fictional character was held up as an archetype of  ‘spirituality in action’.

As a writer, I adored watching Azaria unfold. She’s 56 years old, and has four adult daughters. Her husband died some years ago in a storm. She lives in an old homestead in the mountains of Colorado, and spends her days tending her beehives and growing/harvesting herbs. Without doubt, she’s well-loved and respected in her community. But she’s not perfect, and that’s part of her charm.

The more I think about this character (and certainly where she’s heading in the sequel, Behind Closed Doors) I can understand her magnetism. Although she’s a fictional character, she does represent something to which we can aspire. And isn’t it interesting, when you look at the Latin roots of words, to see aspire and spiritual both containing ‘spir’? As a metaphysician, I also see it as ‘to breathe in life’. Indeed, to breathe in the Divine.

Perhaps you or someone you know meditates regularly or goes to church. Maybe they or someone else burns incense or keeps a gratitude journal. Maybe their temple is Mother Nature herself. Perhaps they’re avid readers of spiritual or person-growth books or the Bible. Maybe they regularly consult divination cards? Do these things make us spiritual? No, no more than hitting a piano key makes you a pianist. All these things, and more, may well be integral to our daily practice, but spirituality is about the outer experiences of our life reflecting and being congruent with our inner values.

So if we breathe in the Divine, then surely we must breathe out the Divine, too?

What are our values? Examples include: independence, adventure, family, beauty, kindness, justice, love, wisdom, truth, compassion, trust, fidelity, power, healing, leadership, knowledge, intimacy, integrity, growth, humility, dignity, food, friendship, community, creativity, etc.

Do our interactions with friends, family, colleagues and strangers mirror our inner values?

 

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The character Azaria shows us that everyday we are learning, and every day of our lives is an opportunity to be congruent. When our outer life truly reflects our inner values, then life has a way of flowing harmoniously. And when Fate brings unexpected life-changing events our way, we do have the spiritual tools within to ‘breathe in the Divine’. More than anything, I believe she teaches us that when we love and accept ourselves, then loving others is easy. And isn’t that at the heart of spirituality? To recognise that we are all one? All drops of the same ocean?

What does spirituality mean to you?

Love, Veronika xxxx

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Would you like to write for Starflower Living magazine?

Issue 6 themes for the New Moon in Sagittarius (due date, November 2nd): optimism, faith, adventure, freedom, truth, travel, publishing, horses, expansion, higher learning, Nature, conscience, friendliness, universities, philosophy. Health: thighs, sciatica, liver, hips.

Issue 7 themes for the New Moon in Capricorn (due date, December 1st): self-discipline, commitment, public image, aging, success, reaching goals, financial security, ambition, respect, fathers, and tradition. Health: knees, skin, bones, joints, gall bladder/stones, arthritis.

We are looking for articles which make people think, and that will inspire, take them out of their comfort zone.

Love, Veronika

 

 

 

 

 

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