Life: An Adventure for Your Spirit
By Sara Jane
Life is an adventure and it is all about the experiences that you have, the feelings you feel, the wonders you see, the sounds that you hear, the places you go, the people you meet and so much more.
It is time to get out of that rut you are stuck in; it may be “safe” but it is restricting and it is holding you back from experiencing what life has to offer you.
I spent many years being so afraid of what others thought about me, in fear of their judgement if I did anything out of the ordinary; I trapped myself in a prison of my own making.
When a broken jaw, which resulted in 6 months of pain and sleepless nights, gave me the push I needed to start living my life, I realised I hadn’t been living, I had been existing.
It was time to start living, to let myself experience some of the many opportunities that exist.
First I heard about the UK Wolf Conservation Trust (UKWCT) and the opportunity as a member to go for a walk with the Wolves.
Through my membership I learnt of a project with the Scientific Exploration Society to track (not kill) Wolves & Lynx in the Carpathian Mountains with the Carpathian Large Carnivore Project lead by Christoph Promberger.
I signed up and spent 2 weeks in Romania in February 2000 tracking in the Mountains with a wonderful group of people; what an adventure it was.
Later that year I became a trainee handler with the Wolves at the UKWCT, being so close with these amazing creatures was such a privilege.
Yes this is me with one of the Trusts Wolves
I abseiled off the Water Tower in Poole, Dorset and started working with adults with learning difficulties, supporting them to have experiences they may otherwise not have had. This included organising a sponsored walk with the Wolves for a group of them.
In 2005 as part of a project I had set up called “Spirit of Freedom”, I along with 2 carers, took 2 young adults with learning difficulties to Idaho, USA for a 3 week adventure.
Whilst there we spent a week with the Nez Perce Tribe learning about their history and culture and spent time in Yellowstone Park, where we were blessed with sightings of many different animals in their natural habitat including, Wolves, Brown Bear, a Grizzly Bear Mum and her 3 cubs, Elk, Bison, Mountain Goats, Snowshoe Hare, Pine Martin and Mountain Lion to name but a few.
I had already started my journey into Holistic Therapies and practises and came to realise that life is a little like a rollercoaster.
Yes it has its “ups” and “downs” but it slowly dawned on me that that is just a learned behaviour of thinking.
All adventures have what we term as “highs” and “lows”, the good bits and bad bits; but it is all about perspective. What is “good” for some is “bad” for others and vis versa.
People, places, things, circumstances, just are, it is only the mind, the ego that labels it.
For many having a broken jaw that caused 6 months of pain and sleepless nights would be a nightmare, the worst thing that had ever happened to them.
I’m not saying it was fun, because it wasn’t but coming out the other side I came to realise what an amazing gift it had been; it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. It woke me up to my life, it gave me the strength and the courage to make some major changes in my life, empowering me to step away from other people’s judgement.
That is when the real adventure of my life started.
Never be afraid to ask for help, especially at times of great change; I did, I went to a psychotherapist to help me understand why I had lived my life as I had. There were 2 things she said to me that have stuck with me, “you never know when you are being lucky” and “here take my advice I’m not using it”.
What is going on in your life at the moment? Are there difficulties? Do things feel as if they are falling apart?
I know it is easier said than done but try going with the flow.
I believe it was Neale Donald Walsch that said “perhaps when everything is falling apart, it is actually falling together”.
What advice would you give someone else if they told you they were going through what you are? Try using your own advice and then when someone does ask you for yours, only suggest things you know have worked for you. Yes suggest only from your own experiences.
From my heart, from the way I try to view my life and live my life, I suggest, let go of judgement; there is no “good” or “bad”, there is just what is comfortable and safe and the adventure that is life, that is the experience of living; that your spirit has chosen for this life.
Honour your spirit by riding the roller-coaster that is life, even if at times it feels like you are only just hanging on as it hits a sharp bend or plummets new depths or reaches new heights.
This life is your adventure.
Copyright © Sara Jane