I am always attracted to those ads where it shows someone running freely in a field of wildflowers with the sun shining brightly. Their hair is flowing and you know they are just enjoying that moment. It is meant to make us feel that desire to be relaxed, carefree and enjoying life. I am attracted to these ads because usually I am desiring that feeling and seeking it out myself. It is a feeling we all need but often find challenging to incorporate into our days.
That desire to feel relaxed and carefree is a spirited feeling. It is where we are in our most natural state of being and have that comfort of who we are, where we are and there’s no need to be any different. How often do we really get that chance? Most of the time I’m running around with some label applied to me like mom, wife, employee, employer, small business owner and the oil lady. I’m living up to what those labels represent and while all of them make up who I am they are at times not the real me. They are not the me running freely in wildflowers with my hair flowing and probably frizzing up.
Where I have grown the most in my natural living journey is in realizing how difficult it can be to bring out our true spirit in the labeled versions of ourselves. At work for example, we have to respond to the demands of our job in a way that is expected of us in that setting. We have to do things at times because we are told to them and not because we necessarily want to do so or know them to be the right business decision. Some call that just adulting but I say it is an experience that prevents our true self from being at the forefront. A great example is where you bring forth ideas in your workplace but feel like you were ignored or patted on the head and bypassed in the interest of the boss.
It is not that our labeled lives are bad but that somewhere along the way we have lost the ability to bring our spirit into them. When things start to feel like a non stop chore list instead of something we truly have passion and inspiration to do, it is not supporting our spirit. This is where burnout happens and we go mindnumb through our days to lessen the frustration and pain. Just get through it and then we can be ourselves or have time to take care of ourselves. Push a little harder and then we will celebrate. After a while all we do is just get through it and keep pushing.
I believe the spirit of living naturally is where we have the ability to be ourselves in as many places as possible. It is where our creativity is flowing, our lives are inspired and we live passionately every day. We wake up in the morning feeling energized and ready for the possibilities ahead of us. Sounds dreamy right? That is the feeling of the wildflower field where we’re funning freely. Finding the ways to bring that feeling into every day living is the journey of living naturally.
In novels there is sometimes this reference to a spirited animal or a woman with a spirit that makes others drawn to her. We are enticed, curious and attracted to these things because they are different and feel interesting. There is almost a certain element of wildness in their descriptions. That is a description of the spirit living naturally. They are uninhibited by the constraints of every day life and have instead made life conform to them. Creating that in our own life is very possible when we start to redefine the boundaries where our spirit and roles intersect.
I say we are long overdue for this experience of living well. There are so many of us saying we are exhausted, tired, stressed out and just getting by. We cannot wait to crash on the sofa and binge watch Netflix. Our bodies are weighed down physically with pounds of fat because we’re eating foods to soothe our emotions and fill needs well beyond hunger. We are letting the weekends be too short because it takes us longer and longer to recover from the stress of our weeks. That is not living much less living well. Our spirits needs a reboot to reclaim our lives.
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