In this mid-winter moment, I’m reflecting on the ancient feast of Imbulc. Meaning ‘in the belly’, it is a celebration of the pregnant moment of promise, the coming of new life and the return to the light. It is the the turning of the season toward spring, as yet unmanifest and unborn. In the natural rhythm of the earth and the year, we are in the womb of our becoming. The seeds that are being planted now, deep in the soil of our own desires and intentions, are fertilized by the compost of all that has come before – the growth and wisdom work that we have done in the last few seasons.
Manifestation is a word I often hear as an expression of the empowerment to realize your goals and desires in real time. The essence of this creative impulse arises from our being – it is the life force in becoming. When creating, in the vision board of our imagination, we see and say what we want – the art, the action. When reflecting on desires and intentions, I find it helpful to go deeper to motivation, asking myself the question – Who is it that I would need to be to have and do those things, what is that person do, feel, say? It can help attune you to creating and moving from alignment. Rather than simply the realization and manifestation of a goal, a key part of our creative process is the person we become in the doing, in the journey. Does the person you will become to have and do the things you are wanting align with who you are in your heart and soul. Does it align with your deepest longing and needs, who you want to be?
The rhythm of being and becoming is the beauty of our dynamic balance; fully present and wholly open to the life force moving through us, aligned spirit/mind/body harmony. It’s a practice. When we create from presence, we are naturally aligned with our heart, within which is embedded a natural harmony with the the highest and best good, the benefit of the whole. When our creativity and becoming arises from that presence, it fulfills us beyond simply having and doing what we want, we become the person we were meant to be – in service to the whole, the good, the true, the beautiful. It reminds me of a quote from one of my favorite teachers, Cynthia Bourgeault: ‘Heaven is not somewhere a place you get to, it is something you become’.
Let’s be and become heaven together…