How I Came to Be Free
Cobbled by Janice DeCovnick
I once lived in a cobbled state of being.
I worked 11 hours a day, then worked some after that when life so required. My weekends were a structured affair: gardening on Saturday, laundry on Sunday. I spent some time with my family on the weekends, never quite sure that I had the time to be doing so, but feeling that it was important.
I came to see that this did not work out so well . . . this cobbled way of living . . . this many hours . . . too little time for myself . . . too little time for my family. I came to see that work was not all life is about.
For a time I tried juggling things around, aware that things were not as they should be, aware that things were out of sync with my soul. I carved out time to exercise. I carved out time to travel a bit. In between the 101 things on my to do list, I read a book or two. I was just skimming the surface of a deeper change that was coming.
Trauma by Janice DeCovnick
Then one day I nearly died.
Near-death experiences carry trauma. They also provide a way to grow, to elevate our lives in profound ways.
A near-death experience brought me to a crossroads where I could see that life could not go on the way I had been leading it. I had to rest. I had to rest deeply and profoundly. I began to meditate daily. I began to dip myself more deeply into the waters of my soul.
I began to write – poetry at first, then stories. I wrote stories of my life to illustrate what I had learned from my near-death experience. I learned that life could go on as it had been, but it would be short-lived. I learned that if I switched directions, my life could be sustained for a long time. What I learned saved my life because I chose a new direction.
Grandeur by Janice DeCovnick
I began to explore my life in new ways: meditation, writing, and eventually travel to the far reaches of the planet. I added photography. I dabbled around the edges with painting, finding that I loved it. I got serious about surrounding my life with beauty, with aromatherapy of flowers, with the grandeur of places I travelled to photograph. I found myself feeling more alive for the first time in years.
Something inside was waking up to places I had not been before in my life.
I could spend hours photographing in the wild, unaware of the cold, the heat, physical discomforts of all kinds, because I was so focused on what I was doing, so focused on what was before me, so joyous to be there.
By this time, I had been meditating for years, meditation had become a way of life, a way of being in the world. Photography had become a meditation, writing too. Painting was a meditation. Walking among the wonders of the world in all its grandeur was a meditation.
Walking Among Wonders by Janice DeCovnick
Meanwhile I was studying: studying meditation practices, enlightenment, near-death experiences, spirituality. Mindfulness ran through each of these areas of study. So I began to study mindfulness in various religious traditions. I studied theology, mysticism, and what makes the universe work.
Mindfulness is an incredibly important tool in meditation, of course, and there are additional aspects.
Mountains of the Soul by Lee DeCovnick
Presence, pure presence, is equally important. Presence is that quality of being in which, regardless of what else is going on, you bring all of who you are to whatever situation you are being present to, whether it be a person, a mountain, a symphony. Presence emanates from a very deep place inside. Presence comes from a place of singular desire to comprehend with complete alignment. Presence breathes through one’s being.
Presence is a gift of spirit.
Also important is respect, respect for the eternal in meditation. Meditation taps into eternity, the quest in this ephemeral life to find that which is eternal. Meditation taps into the soul, bringing her forth from her eternal substrate into our daily lives. Meditation caresses the soul. She awakens from her sleeping place to share her gifts, among them creativity, tenderness, peace, wellbeing. Meditation elicits respect for the gifts of the soul.
Serenity by Lee DeCovnick
Cultivation of serenity is a goal of meditation often achieved by touching into the eternal. We cultivate serenity by exercising mindfulness, presence, respect for the gifts of the eternal soul. Serenity focuses our being in a way that interprets experience as something to transcend. Transcendence loves the eternal point of view.
Transcendence is how we move beyond our everyday concerns. Transcendence moves beyond the mundane. Transcendence lives in eternity.
Transcendence realizes that people cannot believe their eyes and ears completely. Transcendence is not a permanent state of being. We are constantly trying to figure out how to not get caught up in the day to day struggles. We move from worry and anxiety, from sadness and depression to seeing our particular situation as part of the universal human experience. We see it as an eternal cycle. We move in and out of transcendence as we experience new facets of life.
Transcendence comes with respect for the eternal soul and with the cultivation of serenity.
The Tulip Nebula by Janice DeCovnick