Okay, since it's Halloween today, I decided this topic would be spooktacular! And in all seriousness, this subject isn't easy...dark nights of the soul are pure pain and inner torture, and all things covered in shadow. But they are utterly transforming, and blessings in thick black disguises.

I recommend two books to you that go in depth on dark nights and the shadow side of being human: Dark Nights of the Soul by Thomas Moore, and The Dark Side of the Light Chasers by Debbie Ford. Moore's book was so amazing, I read it twice! Let's just say it helped me make peace with my dark nights. And Ford's book was great for uncovering your shadow side, through introspection and helpful exercises.

What is a dark night? First of all, it often lasts much longer than a night! It is sadness, despair, loss, frustration and pain, usually stemming from a traumatic event in your life. It plunges you into questioning what your life is all about, and why it is the way it is...and why do we suffer so much? It can be equated to "depression", but it is much more than that. Having been through a few dark nights myself, it is actually quite unlike depression. I can only describe it as a black hole. You are so empty of everything, you actually feel nothing. Literally, you feel nothing. You are clean slate, and your ego is completely washed away.

Sounds fun, doesn't it?! Well, it's not. But, it offers you the opportunity of change. Since you are a clean slate, you can re-write the story of you. While it is tough to go through the pain and emptiness, what comes out of it is fire. The anger, resolve or determination to transform and be who you really want to be. There is actually more strength in coming from the dark than the light. I have experienced it myself.

One of the best ways to make sense or peace with your dark nights, is to be creative. Use the dark to create, in whichever way you desire. Music, poetry, gardening, whatever you resonate with, use your pain to fuel the fire. Some of the greatest works of art in history were created from dark nights. John of the Cross, the Spanish mystic and poet, coined the phrase "dark night of the soul", in the poetry he created while imprisoned for eights months. Often we cannot see the real substance of our souls in our everyday lives, and it takes pain and anguish to help us see who we really are. It takes shining the light on the dark to really make sense of our lives.

I could continue on this discussion, but really, the books I recommended do it so much better than I could ever....but know that I have been through the dark, and came out a better person. I will leave you with a quote from Moore's book:

          Sorrow removes your attention from the active life and focuses it on
          the things that matter most. When you are going through a perior of
          extreme loss or pain, you reflect on the people who mean the most
          to you instead of on personal success, and the deep design of your
          life instead of distracting gadgets and entertainments. You may be   
          more open to the beauty of your world as a relief from distress. Beauty
          is always present, but ordinarily you may not notice it because of your
          priorities or your absorption in other things.

Peace, Jodie 

Okay, I intended to write this much earlier, but sometimes life gets in the way. The main thing is that this word has been very much on my mind. Which is a good thing, because it keeps me honest with myself, and forces me to check my internal dialogue constantly. And by that I mean trying to avoid negative thinking. As I have said before, our thoughts create our reality. Really and truly. If you don't believe me, try it. So that is why living life with intention is so important, because if you intend success and happiness, that is what you will get. You reap what you sew my friends.

I should clarify and explain what I mean by the word "intention". I believe living life with intention means tapping into your potential to create what you want in your life. It means setting goals with a clear vision and pure heart. By clear vision, I mean having a focused mental picture of what you want, with no "clouds" in the way, so to speak. A pure heart implies that you want what you want with every inch of your soul, devoid of any fear or doubt. Fear and doubt are the greatest obstacles to intention. If you believe that you are unworthy of something, then the Universe will respond to your negative thoughts. It's a slippery slope.

When I say the Universe responds to your thoughts, I speak of the law of attraction. What you intend in life, you attract. This can be good or bad, so you have to be very careful and present. I will include a quote here by German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe that sums this up nicely:

"The moment one definately commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts
of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred...unforeseen
incidents, meetings, and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed
would have come his way."   --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

So you see, intention is about creation. The creation of a life you have a right to live. Every person on Earth has this special power, to create a superior existence. You can have it all....you just need to have the right intentions.

I will leave you with a great line from a super little movie about baseball, but it applies to living life with intention...

"If you build it, they will come".

And if you remember what happened in the Field of Dreams, they came. Try it for yourself...you deserve it!


Peace and Love,
Jodie

"Happiness is not an achievement, it is your nature."  --Osho

The above quote comes from Osho's amazing book Joy: The Happiness That Comes from Within, which is my inspiration for this written meditation. As human beings, happiness is our most sought after state-of-mind. So many people I have talked to say they really just want one thing out of life: to be happy. Sigh.

Why do I sigh you ask? Because I see being "happy" as a rather elusive feeling or state-of-being. And more often than not, the same things that we search for to make us happy can also make us very unhappy. For example, a new love in our lives causes us much happiness and joy...until a "glitch" in our relationship or life in general happens (which inevitably will occur), and that same person makes us sad, angry or disappointed. I don't mean to be a downer, but with light there is always dark. Life is all about duality.

Before you start hating me and this article, let me clarify what is meant by "happiness" with this quote again from Osho...

"...nobody can be in pursuit of happiness. And if you are in pursuit of happiness one thing is certain:
you are not going to get it. Happiness is always a by-product. It is not the result of a direct pursuit.
It happens when you are not even thinking of it - what to say of pursuit? It happens suddenly, out of nowhere."

Ha, now you see where I'm going with this? Let me direct you to the opening quote of this article: happiness is not an achievement, it is your nature. In essence what I'm getting at, is that your natural state of Being is of pure happiness. You don't need to look anywhere for it, you are it. Happiness is always with you, and as Osho says, if you try to search for happiness outside yourself, you will never find it. You may find things that will give you temporary feelings of happiness, but this is often transient. True joy comes from within.

Enough said. I will leave you with Osho's closing paragraph to his book of joy...

                Live in the world without any idea of what is going to happen. Whether you are going
                to be a winner or a loser, it doesn't matter. Death takes everything away. Whether you
                lose or win is immaterial. The only thing that matters, and it has always been so, is how
                you played the game. Did you enjoy it? - the game itself? Then each moment is a
                moment of joy.

Peace, Jodie Lindley

By no means am I an expert in the art of letting go….in fact, it is one of my daily challenges, which is why I am choosing to write about it. Letting go is hard for many of us,
and causes much anguish and unnecessary grief. What exactly is meant by “letting go”? Jon Kabat-Zinn in his book Wherever You Go There You Are sums it up nicely:

    Letting go means just what is says. It's an invitation to
    cease clinging to anything - whether it be an idea, a
    a thing, an event, a particular time, or view, or desire...
    to let go means to give up coercing, resisting, or
    struggling...we hold on with our minds. We catch
    ourselves, get stuck ourselves, often desparately,
    to narrow views, to self-serving hopes and wishes...

What causes us the most unhappiness in life, is our unwillingness to let go of that which no longer serves us. This could be anything – a person, place or thing. When we are holding
on to something, we are preventing the natural flow of life. If a habit no longer serves us, then why hold onto it? Why is it so hard to let go? Because we are afraid of losing it.

Why are we afraid? What we “know” is easier to accept than what we don’t know. If we let go of something we are attached to, we are opening ourselves up to the unknown, and that is really scary.
Attachment, according to the Buddhist philosophy, causes us the most pain and suffering. This does not mean that you must be a non-caring or complacent person: it simply means that holding onto “things"
costs us our freedom, and to enjoy life is to enjoy things as they come and go.

Life is impermanence. Life is loss. Everything is born and everything dies. This is somewhat sad, but the truth nonetheless. Doesn’t it make sense to just let go and let life happen?

I will end this contemplation on letting go with a verse by the Buddha himself…think about it:

                        Do not pursue the past.
                        Do not lose yourself in the future.
                        The past no longer is.
                        The future has not yet come.
                        Looking deeply at life as it is
                        Is the very here and now,
                        The practitioner dwells
                        In stability and freedom.
                        We must be diligent today.
                        To wait until tomorrow is too late.

                                                           -Buddha-

Peace, joy and freedom…

Jodie C. Lindley