There’s a word in Spanish. … Instead of saying ‘to wake up,’ you say recordarse, that is, to record yourself, to remember yourself. … Every morning I get that feeling because I am more or less nonexistent.  Then when I wake up, I always feel I’m being let down.  Because, well, here I am.  Here’s the same old stupid game going on.  I have to be somebody.  I have to be exactly that somebody.*
Jorge Luis Borges

*From Lewis Hyde’s A Primer for Forgetting.

Sanctuary is a word derived from the Latin sanctuarium, which is, like most words ending in -arium, a container for keeping something in – in this case holy things or perhaps cherished people (sanctae/sancti).*

Cherished people like you.

*Wikipedia: Sanctuary.

Given the uniqueness of each of us, it should not be surprising that one of the greatest challenges is to inhabit your own individuality and to discover which life-form best expresses it.*
John O’Donohue

You cannot be a hero unless you are prepare everything; there is no ascent to the heights without a prior descent into darkness, no new life without some form of death.**
Karen Armstrong

I have mentioned the five elemental truths^
on a few occasions recently,
And this morning found myself contemplating their opposites,
Perhaps,
Life should be fun;
You’re special;
Live your life your way;
Don’t give up control;
Don’t think about death.
The hero, though, is born
by completing the truths^ in
gritty yet elegant ways, until
they have the power to let go and
let come.
This won’t read like a hero to many,
And that’s the thing –
Heroes don’t look like we expect them to,
They’re just ordinary people trying to live their lives
for others.

The boundary lines have fallen for me
in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.^^

*John O’Donohue’s Benedictus;
**Karen Armstrong’s A Short History of Myth;
^Life is hard; You’re not as special as you think; Your life is not about you; You’re to in control; You’re going to die;
^^Psalm 16:6)

A well lived life without calibration is unlikely.*
Seth Godin

You choose your purpose and then you give your whole should to that purpose. In due time, you’ll transform.**
Ben Hardy

We know only too well that
the game of life isn’t one long, smooth path.
If we’re prepared to be honest, then
there’s a neat skill available to us:
Recalibrating allows us to keep on the path that matters
deeply to us.
And the five elemental truths are one way we can recalibrate :
Life is hard – what’s been going wrong; how have I been making things worse?
You’re not as special as you think – am I prepared to leave the false self behind for a more True Self?
Your life is not about you – how could recalibrating help those around you?
You’re not in control: will I accept what I can and cannot do?
You are going to die: will I allow my limitations to help me fulfil my purpose?

*Seth Godin’s blog: Re-calibrating;
**Ben Hardy’s Personality Isn’t Permanent.

As one Buddhist author put it, the “craving to be otherwise, to be elsewhere” permeated my whole life.*
Dan Harris

Personhoods are staked on the cards dealt and not the hands played, as if we evolved opposable thumbs of our agency for nothing.**
Maria Popova

Trying to stay present to and in
our own lives
is a difficult thing to do –
Perhaps more difficult than ever before.
We can become fixated on
a version of ourselves, or
someone else, that
we can never become,
But to trust and fully live the life we have not only
makes a difference to us but
also to others.
This is how our
“opposable thumbs of our agency” alchemise
flexibility from rigidity.

*Dan Harris’ 10% Happier;
**Maria Popova’s The Marginalian: The Good Luck of Your Bad Luck: Marcus Aurelius on the Stoic Strategy for Weathering Life’s Waves and Turning Suffering into Strength.

It is true that once a landscape goes undescribed and therefore unregarded, it becomes more vulnerable to unwise use or improper action.*
Robert Macfarlane

They don’t know what they don’t know until they find out they don’t know it.**
Dave Trott

I enjoy borrowing thoughts from all sorts of places
to use in my dreamwhispering work.
At the same time, I am reading Dan Harris’ 10% Happier
following a student mentioning it to me;
At the moment, as I read, Harris is writing about
meditation.
Meditation can take many forms, including,
It strikes me, in dreamwhispering.
We find the words to describe our talents
and our practices, and then can use
use three meditative, reflective exercises to connect with them
more deeply:
Humility to meditate upon the talents of both ourselves and others;
Gratitude to reflect upon the contents of our “loved it” list;^
Faithfulness to ponder the ways we make these live.^^
I’ll probably play with these some more, but
they provide a useful enough place to begin,
Whether we’re walking, sitting, or journaling.

*Robert Macfarlane’s Landmarks;
**Dave Trott’s One + One = Three;
^A “loved it” list contains all the things you have noticed bringing lots of energy;
^^I call these enriching environments, and we are able to make more of these happen.

We have separated soul from experience, become totally taken up with the outside world and allowed the interior life to shrink.*
John O’Donohue

You cannot be a hero unless you are prepared to give up everything: there is no ascent to the heights without a prior descent into darkness, no new life without some form of death.**
Karen Armstrong

Self development is not the same as
self help;
It does not use secrets to bring you
the life that you want.
Indeed the life that you want may be the one that must
die
in order to free the life that is
generative:
Connecting,
Whole,
Persevering.
Joseph Campbell spoke of our need for two myths –
A personal myth and a social myth;
There are many ways to develop myths, including
dreamwhispering.
Drop me a line to find out more;
If I can help, I will.

*John O’Donohue’s Divine Beauty;
**Karen Armstrong’s A Short History of Myth.

Team Darth Vader or Team Luke Skywalker? Do you side with the Empire, even though your soul will probably be crushed in the process, or do you side with the Rebellion, even if the odds are stacked way, way, way, against you? … In the end, we all have our Empire side and our Rebellion side. *
gapingvoid

It’s not be accident that the pristine wilderness of our planet disappears as the understanding of your own inner wild nature fades.**
Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Here’s the questions again:
What does it mean to you to be
human?
I have found myself asking a few people this lately;
There are always wonderful and fascinating and transcending responses that tend to cut through
everyday existence to something
more.
Something they want to be or to do,
Even while they are in the thick of
“all the things that need to be done.”
The question simply enables us to
remember,
Before it’s too late.

If I’ve learned nothing else,
I’ve learned this:
a questions is a powerful thing,
a mighty use of words.^

*gapingvoid’s blog: The ONE Choice All Fulfilled People Make;
**Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run With the Wolves;
^Krista Tippett’s Becoming Wise.

To follow your gift is a calling to a wonderful adventure of discovery. Some of the deepest longings in you is the voice of your gift. The gift calls you to embrace it.*
John O’Donohue

I believe in finding what I didn’t know I was looking for.**
Austin Kleon

I like to think that we each have a gift that
someone needs;
And when it seems that we have found our gift, and
begin following it, then
we will realise this is only a beginning –
If we are open to be changed by the journey,
There certainly is an adventure to be lived.
It means that you don’t have to be
100% sure before starting out:
Look for the smallest expression of what
you are noticing is important to you, and
be ready to follow the trail.

*John O’Donohue’s Eternal Echoes;
**Austin Kleon’s blog: Spontaneity is learning and browsing is research.