Happy New Year and welcome to a new decade. So far 2020 has been quite a ride for me.
I ended 2019 with a lot of reflection. What had the past decade been and what were its themes I asked myself.
Challenge, growth and self-awareness were the key aspects for me. I recalled how on 31 December 2009 I flew to India on 'a spiritual journey.' I'd left my partner of 9 years and decided I needed to fill my heart with that which was meaningful to me.
I landed in Delhi on 1st January 2010 and spent 2 months in the holy city of Rishikesh studying yoga, meditation, mantra and the Bhagavad Gita.
From there, my journey continued as I spent a month in Egypt studying meditation through an Ascension program.
And that was just the beginning.
The decade that's just passed was a road that had not just a spiritual bent but also delivered a grand unravelling of my psychology. Through hours of meditation (2 hours a day!) and lengthy spiritual contemplation I began a deep journey within.
The 2010s were about shedding the old, healing the past and integrating my inner diamond. And that I did.
To conclude the decade, in December 2019 I did a 'Wheel of Life' exercise. The Wheel of Life is a coaching tool that invites you to look at the various categories of your day-to-day: health, money, love, family, work, friendship etc, and rate each one out of 10. I was interested to see where I was at in terms of overall fulfilment. What I saw surprised me.
My numbers were abysmal.
Love: 0/10. Money: 2/10. Family: 2/10. Work: 0/10, Friends: 0/10. The only areas that were anything to write home about were Health: 8/10 and Spirituality: 6/10.
I realised there was plenty of room for improvement. I had a blank slate and I was ready to fill it with new ventures.
So as 2020 arrived I began to look at what this next decade would bring. I considered the key areas in my 'Wheel'. I meditated on what I'd like this next decade to be filled with.
I recognised that although 'Learning and Growth' is one of my core values (possibly the #1 core value for me), that I hadn't studied anything in depth for a couple of years. The most recent education I'd undertaken was a Meditation Teacher Training Course that lasted all of a week.
I needed to learn.
Once that thought landed I began searching my options. And after a couple of weeks I came to the conclusion that the spiritual journey is once again at the core of my needs. And that's where the awakened heart comes in.
For me, spirituality (my belief in the limitless support of Life and the Divine essence that lives within each of us) is at the heart of everything. And so it turns out I've decided to journey into the academic study of spirituality: namely The Science of Religion.
Yup, as 2020 unfolds I'm enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Religious Studies.
Now, if you're like most of the people I've shared that with, you've probably got an idea of what Religious Studies are/is. So before I go on, I'll clarify that the subjects I'm partaking in are nothing to do with needing to follow any specific religion but are about studying the reasons why large groups of people have and share certain beliefs.
To give you an idea: the first subject is Exploring The Sacred, followed by Magic and The Supernatural. Next trimester will be Women and Gender in Religion; then Spirituality and New Age Religions.
Religious Studies it turns out is different to Religious Education – which specialises in one particular stream, i.e. Christianity. Religious Studies maintains a scholarly approach and a value-free orientation to all religions.
In other words, I'll be delving into what spirituality means to people around the world and how it affects our humanity. Which has led me to a whole new approach to Life as a whole.
Namely, awakening to the Sacred Heart.
I'm aware that to any catholics those words might conjure up images of the Virgin Mary or Jesus, surrounded by a halo of golden glowing light, with a blood-red heart that's also equipped with said glow.
But to me the Sacred Heart is the slipstream of Life that is there to support us on our way. Living from the Sacred Heart then is to tap into that slipstream and take the breaths of our life from its waters. As opposed to suffocating in our fears around money, work, kids, and 'what's next'.
Choosing to focus on the fact that regardless of our circumstances, opinions or bank balance, the sun continues to rise and the flowers continue to blossom. The stars eternally twinkle and our hearts never cease to yearn.
So what if we were to choose to take a step towards that this year? To journey into the well of Love that abides in Nature. To exchange our self-obsession with an outward sense of 'What can I give to the world today?'
For me, that new way begins with asking myself this each morning: 'If I were to live from the objective of cracking open my Divinity, what action would I take?'
That single question has already changed my life.
The last few weeks of 2019 were filled (for me) with worries of How will I shift my career next year? And 'What's missing for me and how can I change that?'
But this new way of looking at the world is devoid of fear and feels meaningful and abundant. Simply asking my deepest self 'How can I crack open more of my Divinity?' has awakened me to the Sacred Heart.
I feel little concern with the daily tasks and yet have taken more action this week than the previous ones that saw me stifled and procrastinating.
You could say I've found more purpose.
And that's why I'm writing this blog. Because if that one sentence can awaken such an enlivened response within me I wonder if might be able to do the same for you.
I wonder; if each of us awoke to the thought of How can I live from the Sacred Heart today? would it create a shift in our focus? I think it would. I'm convinced we'd begin to feel compelled to include and share rather than exclude and 'own'.
By welcoming the energy that's within us all I believe there's room for 2020 and beyond to become an ever greater place of freedom. In the last decade, You, I and The Earth have risen to a new vibration and that energetic value continues to ascend.
So if it feels right for you, consider your own Sacred exploration this year and see what an invocation of your own Divinity looks like.
By placing your attention on how you're part of the incredible essence that is Nature, it might just awaken you to a whole new level of purpose, meaning and worry-free living.
At the very least it might provide a fresh new perspective, which in my view, can only be a good thing.
That said, whatever you choose to believe in, I hope 2020 fills you with a sense of 'Plenty' and invokes you with a desire to open your heart to more Love.
Hari Aum x