Weaving the Threads Together

The Six Pillars of Spiritual Connection

Many people reach a point in their lives when they become curious about the deeper dimensions of Life. Regardless of any labels you might attach to this, whether you call it your Higher Power or Higher Consciousness, the Divine, Universe, Intuition, Spirit or Soul, most of us come to believe that there is more to Life than our day to day ego dramas. As the saying goes, ‘we must grow up, before we can go up’ and so healing our emotional wounds and history, is the first step towards awakening. To courageously turn inwards and face our old grief and losses, applying love to those places inside that feel broken and hurt. Then in due course, when we are ready we will also have the opportunity to go deeper. To awaken, and remember that which we never really forgot.

We start to recognise that although our life story feels very personal, it is actually part of a collective and shared human experience. The details of each life story might differ, but the outcomes and gifts offered are pretty much the same. Joseph Campbell described this as ‘The Hero’s Journey’. The reality is we will all suffer, struggle, and experience joy, loss and if we are lucky, love, as part of being human. However, not all of us will recognise (or believe) that we are in fact Spiritual beings having a human experience, rather than the other way around. I am trusting that if you are reading this, then you are at the very least curious about this as a possibility.

As I wrote about in a previous newsletter, The Six Tent Pegs, we all need the fundamentals in place of good sleep, exercise, nutrition, connection, nature and creativity, to keep us firmly tethered and grounded on our bumpy human ride. Alongside this there are also six threads that will support us in our connection to the otherness of life. Some of these threads also overlap with the tent pegs. I like to think of these elements as threads, because if we weave them all together they create a very powerful and even magical dimension to our lives. A bit like the miracle of a spider weaving it’s web at sunrise. These threads when woven all together allow us to deepen into Life, and in doing so, bring us the gifts of faith in the natural order of things, along with the resulting inner peace that this brings.

Photo by Volodymyr Dobrovolskyy on Unsplash

The Six Threads 

Below in no particular order are the six threads. You might wish to add more and of course there’s no absolutes here, it’s simply an offering. I do however hope this inspires you to get weaving...

1. SOLITUDE & SILENCE
In our super busy and over stimulated lives, I believe that we must weave in spaces, however brief, into our every day lives, in order to press pause and retreat from others and from gadgets. If it’s true that mobile phones are an extension of the mind, keeping us ‘neck up’, then we need the discipline to carve out time to put them away and be in solitude and silence. That’s why regular digital detoxes are essential, to support our minds to settle and our hearts to open and expand. Perhaps you can delay turning your phone on by 30-60 minutes in the morning and switch it off earlier each evening. Maybe you can have a lunch break that doesn’t involve scrolling. Find what works for you, but these periods away from the noise, allow us to go inside and deepen our connection to our intuition and inner wisdom. Periods of silence where we are alone (not lonely), support us to hear another kind of voice, one that is very different from the boring repetitive chatterbox living inside our head.

2. NATURE & ANIMALS
Daily time in nature is an essential aspect of awakening. To pay attention and notice how nature unfolds and surrenders to each of the seasons, offers us the best spiritual education we can hope for. Time in nature without distractions allows us to fall back in Love with Life itself. Wonder and awe are key ingredients for awakening people. Animals too have much to offer us. Finding ways to be both in nature and with animals is the winning combination. There is just so much we have to learn from them. As Eckhart Tolle said ‘ I have lived with several zen masters, all of them cats’.

3. CREATIVE EXPRESSION
We are all naturally creative beings and one of the ways that most of us experience loss, is when we lose connection to our creative expression. A very deep grief arises from this loss. As children we naturally create, with our early childhood often one long act of imagination. It can in fact be helpful to reflect on what you used to love to do creatively as a child and then reintroduce that in some form back into your life. Like for me, I used to love to sing and dance in front of my audience of dolls and teddy bears! Nowadays I do it in my kitchen with my family and ancestors cheering me on! 

I believe that creativity is how our Soul speaks to and through us. So find ways to allow your Soul to speak and be heard. Be that through drawing, sculpting, singing, dancing, drumming, painting or writing. Take your pick. So many options to choose from. Find yours.

4. PRAYER & MEDITATION 
Most people are aware of the major benefits of having a regular meditation practice. However, there are many different ways to meditate and it doesn’t have to involve any bells, incense or cushions (unless that works for you). Personally I love a walking meditation and am also a big fan of movement meditations too. Dancing myself into an awakened state is my favourite. 

Non religious prayer is also a beautiful way to connect to your version of a Higher power. The author Anne Lamott writes of the three core prayers which she calls ‘Help, thanks and wow.’ Prayers of gratitude, requests for support and guidance, plus prayers of wonder and awe. Praying informally many times a day has changed my life. Perhaps it might yours too. (Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it).

5. ANCESTORS & RITUALS 
As we awaken to the deeper dimensions of Life, we recognise the importance of honouring and connecting with our lineage. To regularly give our thanks to all the women and men who came before us in our family and made sacrifices so that we can be alive and free. Rituals are a wonderful way to connect with your ancestors. In some cultures they make extra food every day and place on their ancestral altar, alongside gifts. Personally I like to bring items from the natural world to my altar as offerings to my ancestors. Plus the occasional glass of champagne! Weaving other simple rituals into your life, helps to strengthen your spiritual connection and make the seemingly everyday become sacred.

6. GRATITUDE & SERVICE
Awakening brings with it such a heightened awareness of natural beauty and the numerous moments of daily grace we are gifted. So many people take life for granted and feel entitled to their health and freedom. A daily gratitude practice supports us to cultivate a heart based approach to life, recognising that our very breath is a gift. I like to wake up and spend a few moments in bed with my hand over my heart saying thank you to my body and for the gift of a new day. It works a treat for me. 

Another aspect of heartfelt gratitude is a desire to give back to Life. To reciprocate. Finding meaningful ways to love and serve in the world. This can be through sharing our gifts with others, or through becoming an activist or volunteer, but I believe the most important service we can offer the world, is to become the most heart-full, open version of ourselves possible, because what the world needs more than ever, is more kinder, compassionate and loving people. Now that’s true service. 

A Spiritual Practice - the human kind

A spiritual practice isn’t just those moments in meditation or on the yoga mat, when you feel all zen and connected. That’s the beginners version. 

Or when you’re on retreat eating farty food, hugging trees, making lots of heart connections and everyone bows in ‘namaste’, whilst hoping they don’t let one slip. Again, this is for those at the starting gate.

A true spiritual practice is when your mum is dying and you put your complex relationship history to the side, and simply hold her hand. Love her as you would any scared dying person who needs a hand to hold as they prepare to leave. 

A true spiritual practice is when you behave like an a**ehole to your loved ones (which is everyone btw), and then put your ego to the side, returning to ‘the scene of the crime’ to speak and weep your apologies. You make it better, and then you do better. 

Another example is when someone you love deeply, gets sick, dies or leaves and you are brought to your knees with grief. When you feel like you can’t go on and that the pain is too hard to bear. So you beg a ‘God’ you don’t even believe in to help you, and almost out of nowhere a gentle hand arrives to hold yours. 

In this moment you realise you can and will go on. So you rise up on your Bambi legs, with your wobbly courage, to meet this new day.

And if that isn’t a spiritual practice, I don’t know what is. 

#wordsbydonnalancaster

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‘Walking Your Promise’ - a nature based retreat to reconnect with your heart.

This exceptional small group retreat experience will run for the last time in 2024 from September 20-22nd. They have 2 spaces left so check out the link and if it calls to you, contact Danny via his website. Danny Schmulevitch

If you missed it, you can read my detailed experience of participating in this retreat here: A Pilgrimage to the Heart

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And Finally….