The message I am most sick of hearing from New Age folks: “what keeps you from living the life you dream of” and “what keeps you from manifesting your perfect life/partner/job/bank account?” I’ve been involved in the metaphysical movement for a long, long time, and have come to see that while consciously working with our thoughts can be beneficial, these questions ultimately have a narcissistic undertone. Yes, we all have gifts to share, and it’s wonderful to work toward that. Yes, we are all good beings, worthy of living well and enjoying our lives. But there’s this idea that is insidious in the New Age movement that we each are special, and have some kind of divine soul purpose to manifest, and if we don’t manifest that, we are failing ourselves and the world in some way. This, friends, is the New Age spin on Protestant Work Ethic. This idea that we must become famous (or at least social media famous) with a fat bank account and a following, and a perfectly honed and crafted life and profession that ONLY WE CAN DO… that is exhausting so long as we believe it, and it tends to require a whole lot of navel gazing and self-focus. I, for one, have heard enough of it for a lifetime.
Wake up each morning, friends, and do YOU. When you discover ways that you’d like to grow, do it diligently. Take breaks, rest, and give yourself space to have no idea what you are doing. Let go of intentions regularly. Notice your human-centric perspective, and work to dismantle it by sitting in nature, emulating the squirrels and trees. Breathe and sleep and eat. Live as simply as you can. Notice when you are caught up in striving to become or to have, and pause. See the ways that you believe there’s some ultimate version of YOU that you must become, or else your life will be wasted. Do what you enjoy. Care about people, and work on not being an asshole. When you discover you’ve been an asshole, go within and look at that and try to make it right. Let go of trying to control your life and other people’s lives. Rinse, repeat. One day you will die. There is no other moment than right now.
