Bear's Blog

One of my favorite sayings for years is “If you’re in a body, you’ve got work to do!” (more on that later.) Lately, the American (originally Protestant) work ethic is being applied to personal development and spiritual growth in an unhelpful way.

Although the traditional definition of work is what we do to make money (for a living?) that sense of obligation and drudgery is creeping into many areas. Child-raising, exercise, diet, and relationships are not immune to the concept of “needing work.”

All these areas do require some effort and attention. Years ago I read a popular book about prioritizing the “one thing”, and was surprised to discover that there was one thing across many different categories of our life! So it became a long list of to-dos assigned in order of importance.

The branding of personal work, self-care and wellness has become commercialized, with advertising to sell you something to “be better”. In social media it’s also used in a presentational way - look at me! Promoting oneself as managing everything easily carries an implicit judgment of others. Cultivating an Instagram-worthy portrait (again, often to sell, aka influencers) and posting uplifting quotes (scroll to the next thing) is superficial. What really sticks? It reminds me of a term called spiritual bypassing, which means “using spirituality to avoid facing unresolved issues”.

Buzzphrases like being authentic, embracing the shadow side and raising your vibration (aka the law of attraction) speak to our deeper selves but we are not a project to complete.

Rarely do the solutions offered capture the true nature of personal growth. These are long-term, incremental endeavors. We can meet the nitty-gritty, raw underbelly of experience we all feel at times and move through it. It’s a gradual, intermittent process, with starts and stops along the way.

In terms of Energy Signatures, we are a Royal culture. That means the rational mind and linear thinking are prized above all, with the goal being PERFECTION. Of course, that's an ideal, not a reality. What do we lose in striving for perfection? Emotional truth. “Progress, not perfection” is another nugget of wisdom out of the AA playbook. Can we really fully embrace that in a culture that is all about go, go, more, more, better, better? That phrase speaks to patience with oneself, others and the whole world.

When I do an intake with a new client, sometimes I hear about some complicated issues without any emotion - everything is fine and being handled. Even their chakras appear - well, perfect! Quickly I realize I’ve got a Royal energy type on my hands - because after all, they are seeing me for some reason, which means everything is NOT fine.

We can come to appreciate that we are in a perfectly imperfect place right now. My saying about being in a body alludes to the trajectory of our soul’s growth over lifetimes. We arrive to this life with a set of potential challenges and opportunities for that growth. We can’t possibly do it all this time around, no matter how hard we “work” at it. When I finally realized that basic premise of reincarnation, it was a huge relief!

It’s a willingness to learn and explore as we can, when we can, that will result in a satisfying peace with what is. Everyone really is doing their best. Ultimately, our spiritual evolution happens through reflection and practice over a very long timeframe.

Appreciate the transcendental perspective while still living in the muck of everyday life, with all its joy, frustrations and sorrow.

Peace, love and healing -

Bear

How Royal are YOU? Check out your Energy Signature!