(5 minute read)

Over the past weeks I have been grateful to be doing some deep work. In all honesty without bragging, I have to admit that it’s been a gradual process over a lifetime of turning up to return, time and again, to the path of evolution.
Dismantling notions of inadequacy and concepts such as ‘Who am I, to assume I could be so grand?’ which truthfully hasn’t helped me serve my needs nor anyone else’s.
Thankfully, I have noticed a deepening shift as I unconditionally meet what is present, as in not avoiding taking responsibility for what shows up in my life.
Dissolving distraction appears to be contrary to so much of the information often presented in this world.
Personally I find eliminating distraction crucial, particularly in art and healing, but I imagine it relates to no matter what field anyone works in. Distraction tells us when we are not on course and have strayed from purpose.
I have found it happens when we have taken on information that conditions us to believe that, GETTING, HAVING, or FIXING makes life better. But this only serves to take us away from who we already are, and it serves to have us forget that we are already enough.
There is something monumentally different in how life shows up, I notice, when in the moment that I embrace all that IS showing up, doors begin to open and life has a fascinating way of becoming so much friendlier.
It is far easier than believing that there is something wrong with what is.
Much of society and much of the conditioned way many of us seem to operate, is that we imagine that we aren’t where we need to be. There is this unwritten mistaken notion that seems to have us forever chase outside of ourselves for some proverbial ‘carrot’ like a donkey, and we end up doing things we don’t want to be doing, diminishing our values and morals for the sake of some distant reward in the future. Believing that we aren’t enough until we acquire something that will eventually ‘complete’ us.
But how is that possible if we disconnect from our values and from discovering who we really are at our most fundamental level?
A key shift happened for me when I opened up completely to how life shows up in the moment. For me that was being with extremely uncomfortable pain in the form of illness.
Normally my default response to challenge was ‘what can I do to not have this in my life?’ This I discovered is actually a very subtle form of resistance and can be hidden beneath positive intentions.
Instead I chose to embrace what I was feeling, and authentically chose to meet what I was feeling and meeting it all head on regardless of the discomfort. Not in a resigned way but simply owning that this is here and I can accept it fully and learn from it.
As a result I began to shift how I approached the situation and it enabled me to explore new opportunities from a place of genuine care and interest. I learned and grew as a result.
This is not to say that extreme pain and illness is necessary for you to grow, it’s more about turning up unconditionally and listening to whatever is present in life, even if it’s uncomfortable and responding to exactly what is needed for growth.
Most of the time I had been pushing what ‘I’ didn’t want away, I was saying no to SO much of life. I was saying ‘No, not this, I want something different, something more palatable.’
The moment I decided to meet everything that life is bringing me and even welcome it, it has begun to transform the experiences I have been having. The way I show up and of-course the results I am getting now, couldn’t possibly have come from the struggling sense of self in a limiting view of the world I once had.
Life is actually filled with messages that are specifically designed just for us, we can call it intuition, we can call it signals, guidance or whatever. The key is that there is a way of listening, of being receptive, of opening ourselves up and being ready, so that what is supportive to our needs can find us. We just need to be home, to be present. We simply need to drop our distractions and turn up. We can put down the things that are clearly not important to us so that we are present for what is of value. For what life is calling us to.
Yet so often many of us have been conditioned into believing that struggle and scarcity, fear and adversity are the noble way. Take for instance the classic ‘Aussie Battler’ syndrome, where doing it tough is seen as being bizarrely, socially acceptable.
Dropping such a limited, conditioned way of living seems counter-intuitive, especially when so many are doing it. Yet living outside of the constraints of societies norms, free of stress and strain is actually infinitesimally liberating.
We are in a world of opportunities that serves us and others. The moment we choose to open up and fully embrace who we are at our most basic and fundamental level we discover that our destiny is not a fantasy at all. We are here to reclaim our sovereignty and our power to serve all life, including our own.
We are all creative genius of our own making and we can perceive what is possible in this world.

Jhana is a published author and illustrator. He draws on ancient wisdom and dreaming that reveal the bridge between consciousness and creativity. Discoveries of the healing capacities carried in painting, yoga, massage, meditation and art therapy inform his practise. He has taught, mentored and exhibited in India, America, Germany and Australia over the past 20 years.

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