A Journey Towards Spirituality, Part II
I remember the moment that the first crack opened in my atheistic armour. It was at One Love Float here in Calgary (since closed and become The_for.rest). I was taking advantage of a free float for midwives honouring the International Day of the Midwife. When I read about floating, the images I saw were of that sterile serenity of your average day spa. The sacred space that Treeka welcomed me into knocked me off my guard. It was earthy, it was cozy, it was so full of healing energy that even my skeptical science brain couldn’t help but notice it. After my float, as I sat to write and contemplate, a book caught my eye, The Element Encyclopedia of Birthdays.
Immediately my brain was like “astrology is total BS, no rational person would believe any of that crap, you can find ways to make any of it applicable to your life”. I picked it up anyway and flipped to January 21st. It resonated… HARD. I checked Jan 20th and 22nd…. Some resonance there for sure… but nothing like the 21st. I left that day and carried on with life, mostly ignoring that little crack in my armour. It wasn’t a safe space to explore in the context of my marriage, but the light that filtered in slowly ate at the edges of that crack, widening it imperceptibly.
Fast forward a few years and I finally found the strength and the courage to leave my marriage (a story for another time). By that time I had been meditating on and off for a while and had found some real clarity through the practice. Once I was on my own however, two BIG things happened. The first was that I fell in love with life again. I discovered that I had not come close to comprehending the depths of my deep unhappiness as new joy and wonder flooded back into my existence. The second was that I began, slowly at first and then with increasing speed, to devour more esoteric forms of knowledge. I downloaded a few astrology apps and started to learn more about my chart. I bought a tarot deck and began using it to delve deeper into my journaling practice and self-discovery. I joined a neuroscience-based, mindfulness-focused coaching program and began to learn that there was indeed science to back up much of what I formerly would have dismissed as woo nonsense.
In a little over 2 years, I went from being a firmly declared atheist to a woman who signed up for a year-long energy healer’s training program and began each day with a prayer to the “something more” I had always sensed but never really acknowledged.
Today, if you ask me what I believe in specifically, my answer is not going to be all that satisfying. I don’t fully know.
What I do know is that this earth and all the living and nonliving beings upon it are far more deeply interconnected than our current culture is willing to admit (do yourself a favour and go read Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass if you haven’t already). I know that there is more to this universe than we can possibly begin to know or understand. I know that we are all beings of energy and that we can learn to influence, maybe even control, that energy. I know that the more I open up to the unknown and the interconnectedness of this experience of life that I am having, the more beauty, joy, and compassion will enrich my days and infuse my very being.
I know that I am meant to help others along this path to knowing as well.
Whether you are new to this exploration or an experienced practitioner along the path, I would love to walk beside you for a time. To see you, to deeply honour you, and to show you what beauty and potential lie within your incredibly human self.
With Compassion and Love,
Eileen
Here are just a few books from my journey that I think everyone should read:
Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer
Authentic Happiness - Martin Seligman
Wherever You Go, There You Are - Jon Kabat-Zin
How to Do Nothing - Jenny Odell
Mindsight - Daniel J. Siegal
Atlas of the Heart - Brene Brown
The Mountain is You - Brianna Wiest
#personaldevelopment #spirituality #wooandneuroscience #lifecoach #energyhealer #projector
